Blog posts

Buckling of Elastomeric Beams Enables Actuation of Soft Machines

Dian Yang, Bobak Mosadegh, Alar Ainla, Benjamin Lee, Fatemeh Khashai, Zhigang Suo, Katia Bertoldi, George M Whitesides

We look for a candidate with a strong background in Physics, Material Science/Mechanics, or Tissue Biomechanics. The candidate should hold a MSc or an equivalent degree in a strongly related field. Good spoken and written English is mandatory. The candidate must be a UK or EU resident. Any residency other than that cannot be accepted.

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW POSITION School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. We have an immediate opening for a postdoctoral fellow. The position’s primary area of research will focus on origami engineering with emphasis on metamaterials, adaptive structures, optimization, and additive manufacturing. Expertise is particularly sought in rapid prototyping, multiphysics modeling, and nonlinear multiscale finite element analysis and design. The initial appointment is for one year with potential to extend, subject to the availability of funds.

We measure stresses that develop in sputter-deposited amorphous Ge thin films during electrochemical lithiation and delithiation. Amorphous Li_xGe electrodes are found to flow plastically at stresses that are significantly smaller than those of their amorphous Li_xSi counterparts. The stress measurements allow for quantification of the elastic modulus of amorphous Li_xGe as a function of lithium concentration, indicating a much-reduced stiffness compared to pure Ge.

We are looking for a candidate from a European and preferentially non french university for this internship entitled "Ultimate limit optimization of the mooring system for an offshore floating wind turbine". Details are provided in the attached file.

To apply, please send a curriculum, a covering letter and a letter of recommendation to martin.guiton [at] ifpen.fr

We have just published a new paper that presents a theoretical model to test if the fracture resistance of a layered structure can be increased by introducing weak layers changing the cracking mechanism. An analytical model, based on the J integral, predicts a linear dependency between the number of cracks and the steady state fracture resistance. A finite element cohesive zone model, containing two cracking planes for simplicity, is used to check the theoretical model and its predictions.

Recently developed materials and mechanics concepts yield stretchable electronics, which has changed the way that people think about possibilities in the area of electronics and enabled many novel applications. These stretchable electronics will be subject to large, repeated deformation during manufacturing and service.  All these post significant challenges to the functionality and reliability of stretchable electronic devices.

One Internet, multiple worlds.  People have gone mobile, but iMechanica has not.  Although iMechanica is accessible from mobile phones, but it was not designed as such.  On the other hand, mobile social networks are good mostly for short forms.  A practical solution seems to be posting on iMechanica and linking the entries to social networks, such as twitter, wechat, and Facebook.  For example, The New Yorker has a strong presence on Facebook, as my sons and their friends would say.