D. De Tommasi

Pull-in and wrinkling instabilities of electroactive dielectric actuators

We propose a model to analyse the insurgence of pull-in and wrinkling failures in electroactive thin films. We take into consideration both cases of voltage and charge control, the role of pre-stretch and the size of activated regions, which are all crucial factors in technological applications of electroactive polymers (EAPs). Based on simple geometrical and material assumptions we deduce an explicit analytical description of these phenomena, allowing a clear physical interpretation of different failure mechanisms such as the occurrence of pull-in and wrinkling. Despite our simple assumptions, the comparison with experiments shows a good qualitative and, interestingly, quantitative agreement. In particular our model shows, in accordance with experiments, the existence of different optimal pre-stretch values, depending on the choice of the actuating parameter of the EAP.

Electromechanical instability and oscillating deformations in electroactive polymer films

Based on an energetic approach, we analytically determine inhomogeneous equilibrium configurations of thin electroactive polymeric films of under assigned voltage. We show that our results are useful in the analysis of well known failure phenomena taking place in this type of devices. Moreover, we demonstrate that neglecting inhomogeneity effects may lead to a drastic overestimate of the activation performances.

Damage, Self-Healing, and Hysteresis in Spider Silks

In this article, we propose a microstructure-based continuum model to describe the material behavior of spider silks. We suppose that the material is composed of a soft fraction with entropic elasticity and a hard, damageable fraction. The hard fraction models the presence of stiffer, crystal-rich, oriented regions and accounts for the effect of softening induced by the breaking of hydrogen bonds. To describe the observed presence of crystals with different size, composition, and orientation, this hard fraction is modeled as a distribution of materials with variable properties. The soft fraction describes the remaining regions of amorphous material and is here modeled as a wormlike chain. During stretching, we consider the effect of bond-breaking as a transition from the hard- to the soft-material phase. As we demonstrate, a crucial effect of bond-breaking that accompanies the softening of the material is an increase in contour length associated with chains unraveling. The model describes also the self-healing properties of the material by assuming partial bond reconnection upon unloading. Despite its simplicity, the proposed mechanical system reproduces the main experimental effects observed in cyclic loading of spider silks. Moreover, our approach is amenable to two- or three-dimensional extensions and may prove to be a useful tool in the field of microstructure optimization for bioinspired materials.

An energetic model for macromolecules unfolding in stretching experiments.

We propose a simple approach, based on the minimization of the total (entropic plus unfolding) energy of a two-state system, to describe the unfolding of multi-domain macromolecules (proteins, silks, polysaccharides, nanopolymers). The model is fully analytical and enlightens the role of the different energetic components regulating the unfolding evolution. As an explicit example, we compare the analytical results with a titin atomic force microscopy stretch-induced unfolding experiment showing the ability of the model to quantitatively reproduce the experimental behaviour. In the thermodynamic limit, the sawtooth force–elongation unfolding curve degenerates to a constant force unfolding plateau.

Failure modes in electroactive polymer thin films with elastic electrodes

Based on an energy minimization approach, we analyse the elastic deformations of a thin electroactive polymer (EAP) film sandwiched by two elastic electrodes with non-negligible stiffness. We analytically show the existence of a critical value of the electrode voltage for which non-homogeneous solutions bifurcate from the homogeneous equilibrium state, leading to the pull-in phenomenon. This threshold strongly decreases the limit value proposed in the literature considering only homogeneous deformations. We explicitly discuss the influence of geometric and material parameters together with boundary conditions in the attainment of the different failure modes observed in EAP devices. In particular, we obtain the optimum values of these parameters leading to the maximum activation performances of the device.

Optimal complexity and fractal limits of self-similar tensegrities

We study the optimal (minimum mass) problem for a prototypical self-similar tensegrity column. By considering both global and local instability, we obtain that mass minimization corresponds to the contemporary attainment of instability at all scales. The optimal tensegrity depends on a dimensionless main physical parameter χ0 that decreases as the tensegrity span increases or as the carried load decreases. As we show, the optimal complexity (number of self-similar replication tensegrities) grows as χ0 decreases with a fractal-like tensegrity limit. Interestingly, we analytically determine a power law dependence of the optimal mass and complexity on the main parameter χ0.

Fractality in selfsimilar minimal mass structures

Abstract In this paper we study the diffusely observed occurrence of Fractality and Self-organized Criticality in mechanical systems. We analytically show, based on a prototypical compressed tensegrity structure, that these phenomena can be viewed as the result of the contemporary attainment of mass minimization and global stability in elastic systems.