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The introduction of metamaterials has provided new possibilities to manipulate the propagation of waves in different fields of physics, ranging from electromagnetism to acoustics. However, despite the variety of configurations proposed so far, most solutions lack dynamic tunability, i.e. their functionality cannot be altered post-fabrication. Our work overcomes this limitation by employing a photo-responsive polymer to fabricate a simple metamaterial structure and enable tuning of its elastic properties using visible light. The structure of the metamaterial consists of graded resonators in the form of an array of pillars, each giving rise to different resonances and transmission band gaps. Selective laser illumination can then tune the resonances and their frequencies individually or collectively, thus yielding many degrees of freedom in the tunability of the filtered or transmitted wave frequencies, similar to playing a keyboard, where illuminating each pillar corresponds to playing a different note. This concept can be used to realize low-power active devices for elastic wave control, including beam splitters, switches and filters. This article is part of the theme issue 'Current developments in elastic and acoustic metamaterials science (Part 2)'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a nonlinear theory applicable to the design of nanotube based devices is presented. The role of finite kinematics for a doubly clamped nanotube device is investigated. In particular, we analyze the continuous deformation and instability (pull in) of a clamped-clamped nanotube suspended over an electrode from which a potential differential is imposed. The transformation of an applied voltage into a nanomechanical deformation indeed represents a key step toward the design of innovative nanodevices. Likewise, accurate prediction of pull-in/pull-out voltages is highly needed. We show that an energy-based method can be conveniently used to predict the structural behavior and instability corresponding to the ON/OFF states of the device at the so-called pull-in voltage. The analysis reveals that finite kinematics effects can result in a significant increase of the pull-in voltage. This increase results from a ropelike behavior of the nanotube as a consequence of the stretching imposed by the actuation. [DOI: 10.1115/1.1875452]

In this paper a general study on tubular adhesive joint under axial load is presented. We focus our attention on both static and dynamic behavior of the joint, including shear and normal stresses and strains in the adhesive layer, joint optimization, failure load for brittle crack propagation, and crack detection based on free vibrations. First, we have considered the shear and normal stresses and strains in the adhesive layer to propose an optimization to uniform axial strength (UAS) and to reduce the stress peaks in the bond. The stress analysis confirms that the maximum shear stresses are attained at the ends of the adhesive and that the peak of maximum shear stress is reached at the end of the stiffer tube and does not tend to zero as the adhesive length approaches infinity. A fracture energy criterion to predict brittle crack propagation for conventional and optimized joint is presented. The stability of brittle crack propagation and the strength of the joint, as well as the ductile-brittle failure transition, are analyzed. A detection method to predict crack severity, based on joint dynamic behavior, is also proposed. The crack detection is achieved through the determination of the axial natural frequencies of the joint as a function of the crack length, by determining the roots of a determinantal equation. [DOI: 10.1115/1.1604835]

In liquid-based material processing, hydrodynamic forces are known to produce severe bending deformations of two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene. The non-linear rotational and deformation dynamics of these atomically thin sheets is extremely sensitive to hydrodynamic particle-particle interactions. To investigate this problem, we developed a computational model of the flow dynamics of elastic sheets suspended in a linear shear flow, solving the full fluid-solid coupling problem in the two-dimensional, slender-body, Stokes flow regime. Both single and pairs of sheets in close proximity are analyzed. Despite the model being two-dimensional, the critical non-dimensional shear rate yielding single-particle buckling is comparable in order of magnitude to that reported for fully three-dimensional, disk-like sheets. For pairs of interacting sheets, hydrodynamic interactions lead either to parallel sliding or bending, depending on the value of an elasto-viscous number based on particle length. For sufficiently low bending rigidity or large shear rates, large deformations of initially stacked sheets lead to sheet reattachment after separation, unlike for the rigid case. A peeling-like dynamics where lubrication provides a viscous bonding force is observed for sheet pairs when one of the two sheets is more rigid than the other. Practical implications for graphene processing and exfoliation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuum modeling of free-standing graphene monolayer, viewed as a two dimensional 2-lattice, requires specification of the components of the shift vector that acts as an auxiliary variable. If only in-plane motions are considered, the energy depends on an in-plane strain measure and the shift vector. The assumption of geometrical and material linearity leads to quadratic energy terms with respect to the shift vector, the strain tensor, and their combinations. Graphene's hexagonal symmetry reduces the number of independent moduli then to four. We evaluate these four material parameters using molecular calculations and the adaptive intermolecular reactive empirical bond order potential and compare them with standard linear elastic constitutive modeling. The results of our calculations show that the predicted values are in reasonable agreement with those obtained solely from our molecular calculations as well as those from the literature. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to measure mechanical properties when graphene is modeled as a hexagonal 2-lattice. This work targets at the continuum scale when the insight measurements come from finer scales using atomistic simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular dynamics simulations were used to model the Eshelby dislocation inside Pd and Ir nanowires and to predict the powder diffraction pattern using the Debye scattering equation. We find that the ideal dislocation solution by Eshelby is in good agreement with the observed twist angle and deviatoric strain, even though it ignores both the splitting of the Eshelby dislocation into two partials and surface stress. Surface stress plays a significant role only for nanorods with small aspect ratio (∼1:1). We also find that Wilson's prediction on the diffraction peak broadening for the Eshelby dislocation is overestimated because it ignores the fact that the Eshelby twist relaxes the deviatoric strain. Moreover, the twist loosens the correlation along the nanorod, causing additional line profile broadening, which is read by diffraction as a decrease of coherent domain size when the total twist angle is bigger than 1.5°. Overall, our findings suggest a novel way to predict and analyze the dislocations as well as the resulting strain fields in the twisted nanocrystalline rods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu–Zn disorder is known to deeply affect kesterite (Cu2ZnSnS4, CZTS) due to the low temperature order–disorder phase transition, leading to a random occupation of the two cations in the shared crystallographic planes. This defect complex has been extensively studied in the thin film photovoltaic sector, with considerable efforts in developing methods to quantify disorder. In this study, a preliminary investigation of thermoelectric properties in temperature for thin film CZTS is presented. It is found that Cu–Zn disorder enhances both electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. This can positively affect the thermoelectric performance, showing a mechanism of potential interest for a broad class of quaternary chalcogenides. The order–disorder transition is clearly visible in the electronic properties. This feature is repeatable, with samples from different preparations and groups showing consistent results, qualitatively suggesting electronic measurements as possible methods to quantify disorder. Furthermore, the reversibility of the transition allows the electronic properties to be tuned via specific thermal treatments, pointing to interesting applications in tunable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the fractal particle size distribution, a fragmentation theory for quasi-brittle materials is herein developed. The results are three simple and powerful universal laws for the multiscale energy dissipation under impact and explosion fragmentation for one, two, and three-dimensional bodies, respectively. The three-dimensional law unifies the most important and well-known fragmentation theories. As an example, it has been applied to the prediction of the devastated area due to asteroid impacts on earth as a function of the energy released in the collision. [DOI: 10.1115/1.1488937]

In this paper a modification of the classical Weibull statistics is developed for nanoscale applications. It is called nanoscale Weibull statistics. A comparison between nanoscale and classical Weibull statistics applied to experimental results on fracture strength of carbon nanotubes clearly shows the effectiveness of the proposed modification. A Weibull’s modulus of ∼3 is deduced for nanotubes. The approach can treat (also) a small number of structural defects, as required for nearly defect-free structures (e.g., nanotubes) as well as a quantized crack propagation (e.g., as a consequence of the discrete nature of matter), allowing to remove the paradoxes caused by the presence of stress intensifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kesterite (Cu2ZnSnS4, CZTS) powders were produced by reactive high-energy milling, starting from stoichiometric mixtures of the elemental components. CZTS forms fine crystals with a cubic structure, which evolves to the stable tetragonal form after thermal treatment. Tablets were produced by cold pressing of the ball milled powder, and sintered up to 660 °C. Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal diffusivity were measured on the sintered tablets, pointing out the positive effect of CZTS nanostructure and of the rather large fraction of porosity: thermal conductivity is rather low (from ~0.8 W/(m K) at 20 °C to ~0.42 W/(m K) at 500 °C), while electrical conduction is not seriously hindered (electrical resistivity from ~8500 µΩ m at 40 °C to ~2000 µΩ m at 400 °C). Preliminary results of thermoelectric behavior are promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a design strategy for hybrid metamaterials with alternating phononic plates and pentamode units that produce complete bandgaps for elastic waves. The wave control relies on the simultaneous activation of two scattering mechanisms in the constituent elements. The approach is illustrated by numerical results for a configuration comprising phononic plates with cross-like cavities. We report complete bandgaps of tunable width due to variations of geometric parameters. We show that the wave attenuation performance of the hybrid metamaterials can be further enhanced through implementation of lightweight multiphase material compositions. These give rise to efficient wave attenuation in challenging low-frequency regions. The proposed design strategy is not limited to the analyzed cases alone and can be applied to various designs of phononic plates with cavities, inclusions or slender elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The double peeling of detachment of non-linear adhesive tapes from a flat Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) surface has been investigated from both experimental and theoretical point of view. Double peeling tests show that, as the detachment process advances, the peeling angle stabilizes on a limiting value θlimcorresponding to a critical pull-off force Fcabove which the tape is completely detached from the substrate. This observed behavior is in good agreement with results obtained following the new theory of multiple peeling and taking into account the hardening-softening non-linear behavior of the experimentally tested adhesive tapes and clarifies some aspects of the experimental data. In particular, the theoretical model shows that the value of the limiting peeling angle depends on the geometry of the adhesive tape as well as on the stiffness properties and on the interfacial energy ∆γ. Finally, theoretical predictions confirm that solutions with a peeling angle lower than θlimare unstable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Attenuating low-frequency sound remains a challenge, despite many advances in this field. Recently-developed acoustic metamaterials are characterized by unusual wave manipulation abilities that make them ideal candidates for efficient subwavelength sound control. In particular, labyrinthine acoustic metamaterials exhibit extremely high wave reflectivity, conical dispersion, and multiple artificial resonant modes originating from the specifically-designed topological architectures. These features enable broadband sound attenuation, negative refraction, acoustic cloaking and other peculiar effects. However, hybrid and/or tunable metamaterial performance implying enhanced wave reflection and simultaneous presence of conical dispersion at desired frequencies has not been reported so far. In this paper, we propose a new type of labyrinthine acoustic metamaterials (LAMMs) with hybrid dispersion characteristics by exploiting spider web-structured configurations. The developed design approach consists in adding a square surrounding frame to sectorial circular-shaped labyrinthine channels described in previous publications (e.g. (11)). Despite its simplicity, this approach provides tunability in the metamaterial functionality, such as the activation/elimination of subwavelength band gaps and negative group-velocity modes by increasing/decreasing the edge cavity dimensions. Since these cavities can be treated as extensions of variable-width internal channels, it becomes possible to exploit geometrical features, such as channel width, to shift the band gap position and size to desired frequencies. Time transient simulations demonstrate the effectiveness ofthe proposed metastructures for wave manipulation in terms of transmission or reflection coefficients, amplitude attenuation and time delay at subwavelength frequencies. The obtained results can be important for practical applications of LAMMs such as lightweight acoustic barriers with enhanced broadband wave-reflecting performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, experimental evidences have suggested important direct implications of viscoelasticity of human cells and cell cytoskeleton dynamics on some relevant collective and single-cell behaviors such as migration, adhesion, and morphogenesis. Consequently, the mechanical properties of single cells and how cells respond to mechanical stimuli have been at the center of a vivid debate in the scientific community. By referencing important experimental findings from the literature that have shown that human metastatic tumor cells are approximately 70% softer than benign cells, independently from the cell lines examined, the present authors have very recently theoretically demonstrated that these differences in stiffness might be exploited to mechanically discriminate healthy and cancer cells, for example, through low-intensity therapeutic ultrasound. In particular, by using a generalized viscoelastic paradigm combining classical and fractional derivative-based models, it has been found that selected frequencies (from tens to hundreds of kilohertz) are associated with resonancelike phenomena that are prevailing on thermal fluctuations and hence could be, at least in principle, helpfully utilized for both targeting and selectively attacking tumor cells. With the aim of investigating the effect of the prestress (for instance, induced in protein filaments during cell adhesion) on the overall cell stiffness and, in turn, on its in-frequency response, a simple multiscale scheme is proposed in this paper to bottom-up enrich the spring-pot-based viscoelastic single-cell models by incorporating finite elasticity and thereby determining through sensitivity analyses the role played by the stretched state of the cytoskeletal elements on the cell vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

06-1199 Pugno, N. Dynamics of nanotube based NEMS. Proceedings of the Eleventh International Congress on Sound and Vibration, St. Petersburg, Russia: 2617-2624, July 5-8, 2004 (nicola.pugno@polito.it). KEYWORDS: design, dynamic response, [...]

Present paper investigates the potential application of planar nano structures with attached nano particles as nano resonant sensors by introducing a nonlocal plate model which considers size effects. To take into account an elastic connection between the nano plate and the attached nanoparticle, the nano particle is considered as a mass-spring system. Then, a mixed approach based on pseudo-spectral and integral quadrature rule is implemented to numerically determine the frequency shift caused by the attached mass-spring system. Obtained results are in a good agreement with those available in the literature which reveals that the proposed combined method provides accurate results for structural problems with concentrated objects. Results show that for soft connections with small values of spring constant the predicted frequency shift is greater than rigid connections. It means that considering a rigid connection instead of elastic one will underestimate the frequency shift of nano resonant sensors. Also, it is shown that neglecting size effects results in overestimating the frequency shift of nano resonant sensors. Furthermore, nano plates with greater aspect ratios offer smaller dimensionless frequency shifts and the maximum belongs to a square one. The presented results could be useful as a guideline for designing nano resonant sensors of plane shapes like graphene based mass sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, it was proposed based on classical elasticity theory and experiments at macroscale, that the conformations of sheets inside cylindrical tubes present a universal behavior. A natural question is whether this behavior still holds at nanoscale. Based on molecular-dynamics simulations and analytical modeling for graphene and boron nitride membranes confined inside carbon nanotubes, we show that the class of universality observed at macroscale is violated at nanoscale. The precise origin of these discrepancies is addressed and proven to be related to both surface and atomistic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shear adhesive force of four non-climbing cockroaches ( Blatta orientalis Linnaeus, 1758) was investigated by the use of a centrifugal machine, evaluating the shear safety factor (adhesion force divided by body weight) on six surfaces (steel, aluminium, copper, two sandpapers and a common paper sheet) having different roughness. The adhesive system of Blatta orientalis was characterized by means of a field emission scanning electron microscope and the surface roughness was determined by an atomic force microscope. The cockroach maximum shear safety factor, or apparent friction coefficient, is determined to be 12.1 on the less rough of the two sandpapers, while its minimum value is equal to 1.9 on the steel surface. A two-sample Student t analysis has been conducted in order to evaluate the significance of the differences among the obtained shear safety factors due to both roughness and chemistry. An interesting correlation between cockroach shear adhesion and surface roughness emerges with a threshold mechanism dictated by the competition between claw tip radius and roughness, indicating that the best adhesion is obtained for roughness larger than the claw tip radius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for materials capable of realizing the next generation of electronic and photonic devices continues to fuel research on the electronic, optical and vibrational properties of graphene. Few-layer graphene (FLG) flakes with less than ten layers each show a distinctive band structure. Thus, there is an increasing interest in the physics and applications of FLGs. Raman spectroscopy is one of the most useful and versatile tools to probe graphene samples. Here, we uncover the interlayer shear mode of FLGs, ranging from bilayer graphene (BLG) to bulk graphite, and suggest that the corresponding Raman peak measures the interlayer coupling. This peak scales from ~43?cm?1 in bulk graphite to ~31?cm?1 in BLG. Its low energy makes it sensitive to near-Dirac point quasiparticles. Similar shear modes are expected in all layered materials, providing a direct probe of interlayer interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]