We use a phase-changing metal alloy to reversibly tune the elastic rigidity of an elastomer composite. The elastomer is embedded with a sheet of low-melting-point Field’s metal and an electric Joule heater composed of a serpentine channel of liquid-phase gallium–indium–tin (Galinstan R ) alloy. At room temperature, the embedded Field’s metal is solid and the composite remains elastically rigid....

Numerous studies have focused on identifying the chemical and biological factors that govern the differentiation of stem cells; however, recent research has shown that mechanical cues may play an equally important role. Mechanical forces such as shear stresses and tensile loads, as well as the rigidity and topography of the extracellular matrix were shown to induce significant changes in the mo...

Tensegrities consist of disjoint struts connected by tensile strings which maintain shape due to pre-stress stability. Because of their rigidity, foldability and deployability, tensegrities are becoming increasingly popular in engineering. Unfortunately few effective analytical methods for discovering tensegrity geometries exist. We introduce an evolutionary algorithm which produces large tense...

Corneal ectatic disorders are characterized by a progressive weakening of the tissue due to biomechanical alterations of the corneal collagen fibers. Carbon nanostructures, mainly carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, are nanomaterials that offer extraordinary mechanical properties and are used to increase the rigidity of different materials and biomolecules such as collagen fibers. We conducte...

Thin layers of gels with mechanical properties mimicking animal tissues are widely used to study the rigidity sensing of adherent animal cells and to measure forces applied by cells to their substrate with traction force microscopy. The gels are usually based on polyacrylamide and their elastic modulus is measured with an atomic force microscope (AFM). Here we present a simple microfluidic devi...

Five Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) film samples were analyzed to study the gas barrier behavior, thermal stability and mechanical performance for food packaging application. O₂, CO₂, N₂, N₂O, and C₂H₄ pure gases; Air; and Modified Atmosphere (MA, 79% N₂O/21% O₂) were used to analyze the influence of the chemical structure, storage temperature and crystalline phase on the gas barrier behavior. The kin...

We studied the structure and mechanical properties of DNA i-motif nanowires by means of molecular dynamics computer simulations. We built up to 230 nm-long nanowires, based on a repeated TC5 sequence from crystallographic data, fully relaxed and equilibrated in water. The unusual C⋅C(+) stacked structure, formed by four ssDNA strands arranged in an intercalated tetramer, is here fully character...

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a disease attributable to any of a large number of possible mutations of type I collagen. The disease is clinically characterized in part by highly brittle bone, the cause of this feature being unknown. Recently a mouse model of OI, designated as osteogenesis imperfecta murine (oim), and having a well defined genetic mutation, has been studied and found to contai...

The fatigue cracks are observed in asphalt surfaces much more than ruts. This paper deals with the influence of carbon nano-tube on the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures. These samples are made up of the slabs cut by the asphalt cutting saw. Fatigue beams contain 0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5 percent of Carbon Nano-tube. The fatigue experiment was conducted using a 4-point semi-sinusoidal loadi...