This paper deals with the numerical modeling of transient mechanical waves in linear viscoelastic solids. Dissipation mechanisms are described using the generalized Zener model. No time convolutions are required thanks to the introduction of memory variables that satisfy local-in-time differential equations. By appropriately choosing the relaxation parameters, it is possible to accurately descr...

We summarize different studies describing mechanisms through which bacteria in a biofilm mode of growth resist mechanical and chemical challenges. Acknowledging previous microscopic work describing voids and channels in biofilms that govern a biofilms response to such challenges, we advocate a more quantitative approach that builds on the relation between structure and composition of materials ...

Dielectric elastomers, as an important category of electroactive polymers, are known to have viscoelastic properties that strongly affect their dynamic performance and limit their applications. Very few models accounting for the effects of both electrostatics and viscoelasticity exist in the literature, and even fewer are capable of making reliable predictions under general loads and constraint...

In this paper we investigate traveling wave solutions of a non-linear differential equation describing the behaviour of one-dimensional viscoelastic medium with implicit constitutive relations. We focus on a subclass of such models known as the strain-limiting models introduced by Rajagopal. To describe the response of viscoelastic solids we assume a non-linear relationship among the linearized...

Abstract: The mathematical foundation of many real-world problems can be quite deep. Such a situation arises in the study of the flow and deformation (rheology) of viscoelastic materials such as naturally occurring and synthetic polymers. In order to advance polymer science and the efficient manufacture of synthetic polymers, it is necessary to recover information about the molecular structure ...

Starches were isolated from grains of waxy, heterowaxy, and normal sorghum. To study the relationship between starch structure and functionality and guide applications of these starches, amylose content, amylopectin chain-length distributions, gelatinization and retrogradation, pasting properties, dynamic rheological properties, and in vitro enzyme digestion of raw starches were analyzed. Heter...

The experimental timescale of memory effects related to restoring equilibrium viscoelastic properties in solution-cast linear and long-chain branched polyethylenes has been investigated. It was found that the crystallization history of low-density polyethylene and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, with respect to solid-state and melt properties, is lost after heating into the melt after...

We used a cone and plate rheometer to evaluate the mechanical properties of actin over a wide range of oscillation frequencies and shear rates. Remarkably, both filamentous and nonfilamentous actin behaved as viscoelastic solids in both oscillatory and shear type experiments, providing that they were given ample time to equilibrate. Actin was purified by gel filtration from rabbit skeletal musc...