TY - JOUR T1 - Discrete-to-continuum limits for strain-alignment-coupled systems: Magnetostrictive solids, ferroelectric crystals and nematic elastomers JF - Netw. Heterog. Media 4 (2009) 667-708 Y1 - 2009 A1 - Marco Cicalese A1 - Antonio DeSimone A1 - Caterina Ida Zeppieri AB - In the framework of linear elasticity, we study the limit of a class of discrete free energies modeling strain-alignment-coupled systems by a rigorous coarse-graining procedure, as the number of molecules diverges. We focus on three paradigmatic examples: magnetostrictive solids, ferroelectric crystals and nematic elastomers, obtaining in the limit three continuum models consistent with those commonly employed in the current literature. We also derive the correspondent macroscopic energies in the presence of displacement boundary conditions and of various kinds of applied external fields. PB - American Institute of Mathematical Sciences UR - http://hdl.handle.net/1963/3788 U1 - 538 U2 - Mathematics U3 - Functional Analysis and Applications ER -