Matteo Ciccotti

Design principles for superamphiphobic surfaces

To predict the properties of superamphiphobic layers we analyzed the wetting of a square and a hexagonal array of vertical pillars composed of spheres (radius R) partially sintered together. Apparent contact angles above 150° are obtained by pinning of a non-polar liquid surface at the underside of the top sphere resulting in a Fakir or Cassie state. Analytical equations are derived for the impalement pressure in the limiting case A0 ≫ R2, where A0 is the area of the regular unit cell containing a single pillar. The case of close pillars is investigated numerically. By balancing forces at the rim of a drop, we calculate the apparent receding contact angle. To describe drag reduction of a flowing liquid we calculate the apparent slip length. When considering pressure-induced flow through cylindrical capillaries of radius rc, significant drag reduction occurs only for thin capillaries. The mechanical stability with respect to normal forces and shear is analyzed. Nanoscopic silica glass pillars would be able to sustain the normal and shear stresses caused by capillary and drag forces. For a high impalement pressure and good mechanical stability A0 should be small and R (respectively the neck diameter) should be large, whereas a large A0 and a small R imply low contact angle hysteresis and high slip length.

Stress-corrosion mechanisms in silicate glasses

The present review is intended to revisit the advances and debates in the comprehension of the mechanisms of subcritical crack propagation in silicate glasses almost a century after its initial developments. Glass has inspired the initial insights of Griffith into the origin of brittleness and the ensuing development of modern fracture mechanics. Yet, through the decades the real nature of the fundamental mechanisms of crack propagation in glass has escaped a clear comprehension which could gather general agreement on subtle problems such as the role of plasticity, the role of the glass composition, the environmental condition at the crack tip and its relation to the complex mechanisms of corrosion and leaching. The different processes are analysed here with a special focus on their relevant space and time scales in order to question their domain of action and their contribution in both the kinetic laws and the energetic aspects.

Fracture and adhesion of soft materials: a review

Soft materials are materials with a low shear modulus relative to their bulk modulus and where elastic restoring forces are mainly of entropic origin. A sparse population of strong bonds connects molecules together and prevents macroscopic flow. In this review we discuss the current state of the art on how these soft materials break and detach from solid surfaces. We focus on how stresses and strains are localized near the fracture plane and how elastic energy can flow from the bulk of the material to the crack tip. Adhesion of pressure-sensitive-adhesives, fracture of gels and rubbers are specifically addressed and the key concepts are pointed out. We define the important length scales in the problem and in particular the elasto-adhesive length Γ/E where Γ is the fracture energy and E is the elastic modulus, and how the ratio between sample size and Γ/E controls the fracture mechanisms. Theoretical concepts bridging solid mechanics and polymer physics are rationalized and illustrated by micromechanical experiments and mechanisms of fracture are described in detail. Open questions and emerging concepts are discussed at the end of the review.

Measuring Nanoscale Stress Intensity Factors with an Atomic Force Microscope

Atomic Force Microscopy images of a crack intersecting the free surface of a glass specimen are taken at different stages of subcritical propagation. From the analysis of image pairs, it is shown that a novel Integrated Digital Image Correlation technique allows to measure stress intensity factors in a quantitative fashion. Image sizes as small as 200 nm can be exploited and the surface displacement fields do not show significant deviations from linear elastic solutions down to a 10 nm distance from the crack tip. Moreover, this analysis gives access to the out-of-plane displacement of the free surface at the crack tip.

The double torsion loading configuration for fracture propagation: an improved methodology for the load-relaxation at constant displacement

Abstract For most materials the dynamics of subcritical crack propagation during stress-corrosion can be described uniquely by a relationship between the mode-I stress intensity factor K I and the crack velocity v that generally has the form of a power law. In last 30 years, the double-torsion load-relaxation test has shown to be the most reliable method for measuring such a relation. The standard analysis, developed by Evans (J Mater Sci 1972;7:1137–46), is based on an analytical approxatimation that fails to accurately describe the specimen compliance outside a narrow region in the center of the specimen. This paper deals with the implications on data inversion of the exhaustive three-dimensional finite-element analysis recently performed by Ciccotti (J Am Ceram Soc 2000, in press) on double-torsion specimens. The results are presented in terms of corrective coefficients to the classical analytical approximation. A full methodology is developed for the numerical implementation of such corrections. By numerically simulating some relaxation tests, the classical analysis based on the analytical approximation is shown to generally underestimate the stress-corrosion index up to 30% even if the most conservative operational constraints are satisfied. On the contrary, the operational constraints can be comfortably relaxed as a consequence of the capability of correcting the finite size effects in relation to the different experimental parameters.

On the kinetics of peeling of an adhesive tape under a constant imposed load

Abstract The peeling of an adhesive tape is studied when a constant applied load is clamped to its extremity. Three different regimes are observed, as in the peeling at constant speed, previously studied (Maugis, D. and Barquins, M. in ‘Adhesion 12’ (Ed. K.W. Allen) Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1988, pp. 205–222). If applied loads are small, the peeling is stable and it increases at increasing load so that the strain energy release rate varies as a power function of the peeling speed, as already found (Barquins, M., Khandani, B. and Maugis, D. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris. 1986, 303, 1517). When the applied load reaches a critical value, a velocity jump is observed whereas the peeling becomes jerky with emission of a characteristic noise. This phenomenon of self sustained oscillations (stick-slip) is well-known. When applied loads are high, the peeling regime is stable again, and the speed increases slowly at increasing load. The new phenomenon which is exhibited in this study is that during the jerky mode of peeling, the mean value of the peeling speed remains constant whatever the applied load in a large range. Moreover, the stick-slip is characterized by simultaneous light-wave and acoustic emissions which have been recorded.

Capillary Force between Wetted Nanometric Contacts and Its Application to Atomic Force Microscopy

We extend to the case of perfect wetting the exact calculation of Orr et al. (J. Fluid. Mech. 1975, 67, 723) for a pendular ring connecting two dry surfaces. We derive an approximate analytical expression for the capillary force between two highly curved surfaces covered by a wetting liquid film. The domain of validity of this expression is assessed and extended by a custom-made numerical simulation based on the full exact mathematical description. In the case of attractive liquid-solid van der Waals interactions, the capillary force increases monotonically with decreasing vapor pressure up to several times its saturation value. This accurate description of the capillary force makes it possible to estimate the adhesion force between wet nanoparticles; it can also be used to quantitatively interpret pull-off forces measured by atomic force microscopy.

Effects of Finite Probe Size on Self-Affine Roughness Measurements

The roughness of fracture surfaces exhibits self-affinity for a wide variety of materials and loading conditions. The universality and the range of scales over which this regime extends are still debated. The topography of these surfaces is however often investigated with a finite contact probe. In this case, we show that the correlation function of the roughness can only be measured down to a length scale Deltax{c} which depends on the probe size R, the Hurst exponent zeta of the surface and its topothesy l, and exhibits spurious behavior at smaller scales. First, we derive the dependence of Deltax{c} on these parameters from a simple scaling argument. Then, we verify this dependence numerically. Finally, we establish the relevance of this analysis from AFM measurements on an experimental glass fracture surface and provide a metrological procedure for roughness measurements.

Rate-dependent elastic hysteresis during the peeling of pressure sensitive adhesives

The modelling of the adherence energy during peeling of Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PSA) has received much attention since the 1950s, uncovering several factors that aim at explaining their high adherence on most substrates, such as the softness and strong viscoelastic behaviour of the adhesive, the low thickness of the adhesive layer and its confinement by a rigid backing. The more recent investigation of adhesives by probe-tack methods also revealed the importance of cavitation and stringing mechanisms during debonding, underlining the influence of large deformations and of the related non-linear response of the material, which also intervenes during peeling. Although a global modelling of the complex coupling of all these ingredients remains a formidable issue, we report here some key experiments and modelling arguments that should constitute an important step forward. We first measure a non-trivial dependence of the adherence energy on the loading geometry, namely through the influence of the peeling angle, which is found to be separable from the peeling velocity dependence. This is the first time to our knowledge that such adherence energy dependence on the peeling angle is systematically investigated and unambiguously demonstrated. Secondly, we reveal an independent strong influence of the large strain rheology of the adhesives on the adherence energy. We complete both measurements with a microscopic investigation of the debonding region. We discuss existing modellings in light of these measurements and of recent soft material mechanics arguments, to show that the adherence energy during peeling of PSA should not be associated to the propagation of an interfacial stress singularity. The relevant deformation mechanisms are actually located over the whole adhesive thickness, and the adherence energy during peeling of PSA should rather be associated to the energy loss by viscous friction and by rate-dependent elastic hysteresis.

Ultra-long range correlations of the dynamics of jammed soft matter

We use photon correlation imaging, a recently introduced space-resolved dynamic light scattering method, to investigate the spatial correlation of the dynamics of a variety of jammed and glassy soft materials. Strikingly, we find that in deeply jammed soft materials spatial correlations of the dynamics are quite generally ultra-long ranged, extending up to the system size, orders of magnitude larger than any relevant structural length scale, such as the particle size, or the mesh size for colloidal gel systems. This has to be contrasted with the case of molecular, colloidal and granular “supercooled” fluids, where spatial correlations of the dynamics extend over a few particles at most. Our findings suggest that ultra long range spatial correlations in the dynamics of a system are directly related to the origin of elasticity. While solid-like systems with entropic elasticity exhibit very moderate correlations, systems with enthalpic elasticity exhibit ultra-long range correlations due to the effective transmission of strains throughout the contact network.