From guitar strings and spider webs to edible gels, many materials owe a large part of their mechanical rigidity to the forces and stresses they are currently experiencing. Even more: the stresses they experienced while they were being formed can have a lasting effect on the mechanics even after when they are no longer present.
Current topics include states of self-stress in Mikado networks, toughening of elastomers, and tuning of mechanical properties in model network materials.
Students involved: Mathijs Vermeulen (PhD), Anwesha Bose (PhD)