iMechanica

Zhigang Suo, Xuanhe Zhao, and William H. Greene

Using the Griffith energy method for analysis of cavitation under hydrostatic tension we conclude that the critical tension tends to infinity when the cavity radius approaches zero (IJSS, 2006, doi: 10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2006.12.022). The conclusion is physically meaningless, of course. Moreover, if we assume that the failure process occurs at the edge of the cavity then the critical tension should be length-independent for small but finite cavities while the Griffith analysis always exhibits length-dependence. The main Griffith idea - introduction of the surface energy - is controversial because it sets up the characteristic length, say, surface energy over volume energy. By no means is this approach in peace with the length-independent classical continuum mechanics.

I had posted this on the amd blog...I am posting it here as well:

Last year I attended the annual American Physical Society conference held in Baltimore (during the week of March 13th). One of the non-technical sessions included presentations by the APS journal editors--Physical Review A/B/C/D/E and Letters---and a panel discussion related to these journals. Since many of our mechanics and materials colleagues nowadays are interested in publishing in these journals, I thought I should post a link to some of the slides (from the editors presentation) that I found interesting. Many of the slides presented at APS are in the linked pdf file that also includes additional (humorous slides!) regarding reviewer issues.

Based on a survey from Journal Citation Report (JCR), we listed below the 2004 Journal Impact Factors (IF) for some mechanics, material science, and solid state physics related scientific journals. Our list and information may not be complete. We welcome readers' input, comments, and information. We also caution readers that using IF as the sole criterion to rank scientific journals' academic reputation may not be objective nor true to a journal's actual scientific merits.

Appl Phys Lett, 90, 201910, 2007

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and National Science Council (NSC) in Taiwan are pleased to announce that the 4th U.S. Air Force/Taiwan Nanoscience and Nanotechnology workshop will be held on February 8-9, 2007 at the main campus of the University of Houston. We invite you to join us at the workshop.

(J Appl Phys, 100, 114327, 2006) 

(PRB,74,245428,2006)  Based on a molecular mechanics concept, a nonlinear stick-spiral model is developed to investigate the mechanical behavior of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The model is capable of predicting not only the initial elastic properties (e.g., Young’s modulus) but also the stress-strain relations of a SWCNT under axial, radial, and torsion conditions. The elastic properties, ultimate stress, and failure strain under various loading conditions are discussed and special attentions have been paid to the effects of the tube chirality and tube size. Some unique mechanical behaviors of chiral SWCNTs, such as axial strain-induced torsion, circumferential strain-induced torsion, and shear strain-induced extension are also studied. The predicted results from the present model are in good agreement with existing data, but very little computational cost is needed to yield them.

In growth of essentially every compound material such as GaN, one element always diffuses faster than the other(s) at the growth front. To grow good-quality materials, even the most sluggish element has to be sufficiently mobile, forcing materials growers to go to higher growth temperatures.

Recently, J. Wang, L. Sun and I have formulated some ideas about the effective properties of heterogeneous materials with surface/interface energy effect, which are shown in the attached file.

Papers in the attached file can be viewed as a two-part paper, called “Multi-phase hyperelasticity with interface energy effect” if it is standalone. Part one of this topic is covered in “A theory of hyperelasticity of multi-phase media with surface/interface energy effect”, which provides theoretical background. Part two is covered in “Size-dependent effective properties of a heterogeneous material with interface energy effect: from finite deformation theory to infinitesimal strain analysis”, with more emphasis on application.

We report in detail that unlike other materials, carbon nanotubes are so small that changes in structure can affect the Young's modulus. The variation in modulus is attributed to differences in torsional strain, which is the dominant component of the total strain energy. Torsional strain, and correspondingly Young's modulus, increases significantly with decreasing tube diameter and increases slightly with decreasing tube helicity.  Journal of Applied Physics 84, 1939 (1998).

We report the loading and unloading force response of single living adherent fibroblasts due to large lateral indentation obtained by a two-component microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) force sensor. Strong hysteretic force response is observed for all the tested cells. For the loading process, the force response is linear (often with small initial non-linearity) to a deformation scale comparable to the undeformed cell size, followed by plastic yielding. In situ visualization of actin fibers (GFP) reveals that during the indentation process, actin network depolymerizes irreversibly at discrete locations to form well-defined circular actin agglomerates all over the cell, which explains the irreversibility of the force response. Similar agglomeration is observed when the cell is compressed laterally by a micro plate. The distribution pattern of the agglomerates strongly correlates with the arrangement of the actin fibers of the pre-indented cell. The size of the agglomerates increases with time as ta  with a= 2~3 initially,   followed by a=.5~1. The higher growth rate suggests influx of actin into the agglomerates. The slower rate suggests a diffusive spreading, but the diffusion constant is two orders of magnitude lower than that of an actin monomer through the cytoplasm. Actin agglomeration has previously been observed due to biochemical treatment, gamma-radiation, and ischemic injury, and has been identified as a precursor to cell death. We believe, this is the first evidence of actin agglomeration due to mechanical stimuli. The study demonstrates that living cells may initiate similar functionalities in response to dissimilar mechanical and biochemical stimuli.

Dear members,

https://www.hlrn.de/home/view/System/STAR-CD#5_Online_Documentation

http://www.smbc.co.jp/kojin/kinri/chart.html

A new book, "Tissue Mechanics" by SC Cowin and SB Doty is of potential interest to those from a classical mechanics background considering work in biomechanics. Downloadable versions of the first two chapters are available at the book's website along with a full table of contents and other supplemental information.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering invites applications and nominations for the position of Department Chairperson to begin in Fall 2007.

Applicants must hold an earned PhD in Mechanical Engineering or closely related discipline. A record of leadership showing interpersonal skills and organizational ability, strong research background and funding records with recognized professional accomplishments in mechanical engineering, demonstrated ability to interact with industry, and a commitment to excellence in teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels are required. Mechanical Engineering is one of four departments in the College of Engineering at San Diego State University with an EAC, ABET-accredited B.S. degree program in Mechanical Engineering, as well as M.S. and Ph.D. programs involving students in leading edge research.

T. Zhu, Z. Suo, A. Winkleman, G. M. Whitesides, Applied Physics Letters, 88, 144101, (2006)

On July 16, 1976, when I was writing my very first paper in U.S. with my lab senior Dr. Prashant Kumar and thesis advisor Professor Rodney J. Clifton to the Journal of Applied Physics, Professor Clifton put a copy of an article on my desk while I was away. The article was "Advice to Young Physicists" by Walther Bothe. It was translated from German to English in Physics Today, September, 1958. I do not know whether this advice still holds for the whole; however, I believe that most of the advice is still valuable for anyone, in particular, an experimentalist, who undertakes a piece of scientific work. Therefore, I would like to share his advice with the society of iMechanica by recollecting it here. - K.-S. Kim

Ex-vivo measure of stress-strain relationships in populations of living adherent cells by means of ligand-coated ferromagnetic microbeads (mean diameter: 4.5 µm) attached to the transmembrane mechanoreceptors which are linked to the cytoskeleton (CSK), reveal non linear cell mechanical behavior. However, this non linear cell mechanical behaviour is subjected to controversy for various reasons. First, it has not been systematically found. Results seem to depend on the micromanipulation method used and/or the cell type.

This is a very rough manuscript but including the original material we used. Any criticism or suggestion is welcome. The only aim of this letter is to reflect the multi-effect of surface energy on material or structure in nanosize scale. Here we report the effect of surface energy on the yield strength of nanoporous materials. The conventional micromechanics method is extended to consider the surface effect and expression of effective yield surface of nanoporous materials in complex stress state is derived.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University invites applications for a tenure track faculty position in the area of micro- and nano-scale devices, systems and related phenomena, though outstanding candidates in other research areas will be considered. The candidate should have a PhD in engineering or science, demonstrated excellence in research, and will be expected to develop innovative research and teaching programs in an interdisciplinary environment.

By George A. Hazelrigg, National Science Foundation

I have been an NSF program director for 18 years. During this time, I have personally administered the review of some 3,000 proposals and been involved in the review of perhaps another 10,000. Through this experience, I have come to see that often there are real differences between winning proposals and losing proposals. The differences are clear. Largely, they are not subjective differences or differences of quality; to a large extent, losing proposals are just plain missing elements that are found in winning proposals. Although I have known this for some time, a recent experience reinforced it.