Instabilities

Instabilities have long been treated as a failure mode in hard materials. Once the instability kicks in, the large deformation irreversible damage the hard materials that can only accommodate less than 1% elastic strain. In comparison, 100% elastic deformation is common for soft materials. Being able to reversible undergo large deformation makes instability an invaluable tool in designing soft structures. The highly nonlinear behavior of instability can be used to carry out complex functions that are impossible to realize with linear materials, such as logic operation, memory, pattern switching, etc.

Related publications

  • Liu, Q., Ouchi, T., Jin, L., Hayward, R., & Suo, Z. (2019). Elastocapillary Crease. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 122(9), 098003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.098003.
  • Wang, Y., Liu, Q., Zhang, J., Hong, T., Sun, W., Tang, L., Arnold, E., Suo, Z., Hong, W., Ren, Z., & Guo, C.F. (2019). Giant Poisson's Effect for Wrinkle-Free Stretchable Transparent Electrodes. ADVANCED MATERIALS, 31(35), e1902955. doi: 10.1002/adma.201902955.
  • Xu, B.B., Liu, Q., Suo, Z., & Hayward, R.C. (2016). Reversible Electrochemically Triggered Delamination Blistering of Hydrogel Films on Micropatterned Electrodes. ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, 26(19), 3218-3225. doi: 10.1002/adfm.201504769.
  • Guo, C.F., Liu, Q., Wang, G., Wang, Y., Shi, Z., Suo, Z., Chu, C.W., & Ren, Z. (2015). Fatigue-free, superstretchable, transparent, and biocompatible metal electrodes. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 112(40), 12332-12337. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1516873112.
  • Guo, C.F., Sun, T., Liu, Q., Suo, Z., & Ren, Z. (2014). Highly stretchable and transparent nanomesh electrodes made by grain boundary lithography. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 5(1). doi: 10.1038/ncomms4121.
  • Zarzar, L.D., Liu, Q., He, X., Hu, Y., Suo, Z., & Aizenberg, J. (2012). Multifunctional actuation systems responding to chemical gradients. SOFT MATTER, 8(32), 8289-8293. doi: 10.1039/c2sm26064f.

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