| Issue |
EPL
Volume 87, Number 5, September 2009
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 58001 | |
| Number of page(s) | 6 | |
| Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/87/58001 | |
| Published online | 15 September 2009 | |
Mechanics and size-dependent elasticity of composite networks
1
Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University - Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
2
Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University - Sapporo 001-0020, Japan
Corresponding author: hwada@yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Received:
15
April
2009
Accepted:
10
August
2009
We develop a continuum mechanics theory of small deformations of isotropic composites made of elastic networks with significantly different mechanical properties such as hard and soft components. We show that those composites exhibit spatially non-local elasticity due to energetic coupling between the constituent networks. For realistic finite-size materials, this elastic property leads to a size-dependent Young's modulus. The size-dependent elasticity is generic and can be observed in a variety of composites consisting of largely different mechanical elements, which are ubiquitous in biological and synthetic soft materials.
PACS: 87.10.Pq – Elasticity theory / 83.80.Ab – Solids: e.g., composites, glasses, semicrystalline polymers / 83.80.Kn – Physical gels and microgels
© EPLA, 2009
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