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SUMMARY:Solid Capillarity:  when surface properties dominate the mechanics
  of soft solids
DTSTART:20161107T131500
DTEND:20161107T141500
DTSTAMP:20260407T014747Z
UID:558fa44fdbaf5750c274f8f6cb3a7e1a4b218663141c1aaf80ba014e
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Eric R. Dufresne\, Department of Materials - ETH Zürich
 \nBio: Eric Dufresne is a leading international scientist in the area of s
 oft materials. His research focuses on understanding\, controlling and exp
 loiting the structure and dynamics of soft materials. These include the bu
 lk of living tissues\, as well as diverse engineered materials\, from pers
 onal care products to energy-efficient electronic-paper displays.\nSoft ma
 terials are the stuff of life\, and of emerging technologies like wearable
  electronics and soft robotics.  While material deformation is an essenti
 al part of these examples\, the classic theories of solid mechanics were d
 eveloped to describe much stiffer materials. Our experiments show that the
 se classic results fail to describe deformation of soft solids at small le
 ngth scales.  In this limit\, we see qualitative changes to the interfaci
 al phenomena of adhesion and wetting\, as well as dramatic effects on the 
 mechanics of soft composites. \n\nWe are able to capture the essential fe
 atures of these phenomena with linear-elastic analytic models that incorpo
 rate solid surface tension.  Intriguingly\, the apparent surface tension 
 in these phenomena is larger than the expected surface energy.  I will de
 scribe current experiments targeted at illuminating this discrepancy
LOCATION:MXF 1 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%201
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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