Ductile-to-brittle transition and yielding in soft amorphous materials: perspectives and open questions

• Published in: Soft matter Vol. 2; no. 35; pp. 6868 - 6888
• Main Authors: Divoux, Thibaut, Agoritsas, Elisabeth, Aime, Stefano, Barentin, Catherine, Barrat, Jean-Louis, Benzi, Roberto, Berthier, Ludovic, Bi, Dapeng, Biroli, Giulio, Bonn, Daniel, Bourrianne, Philippe, Bouzid, Mehdi, Del Gado, Emanuela, Delanoë-Ayari, Hélène, Farain, Kasra, Fielding, Suzanne, Fuchs, Matthias, van der Gucht, Jasper, Henkes, Silke, Jalaal, Maziyar, Joshi, Yogesh M, Lemaître, Anaël, Leheny, Robert L, Manneville, Sébastien, Martens, Kirsten, Poon, Wilson C. K, Popovi, Marko, Procaccia, Itamar, Ramos, Laurence, Richards, James A, Rogers, Simon, Rossi, Saverio, Sbragaglia, Mauro, Tarjus, Gilles, Toschi, Federico, Trappe, Véronique, Vermant, Jan, Wyart, Matthieu, Zamponi, Francesco, Zare, Davoud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 11.09.2024
• Subjects: Amorphous materials; Biomedical engineering; Biomedical materials; Condensed Matter; Ductile-brittle transition; Gels; Mechanics; Mechanics of materials; Pastes; Physics; Questions; Soft Condensed Matter; Viscoelasticity
• ISSN: 1744-683X; 1744-6848; 1744-6848
• DOI: 10.1039/d3sm01740k

Soft amorphous materials are viscoelastic solids ubiquitously found around us, from clays and cementitious pastes to emulsions and physical gels encountered in food or biomedical engineering. Under an external deformation, these materials undergo a noteworthy transition from a solid to a liquid state that reshapes the material microstructure. This yielding transition was the main theme of a workshop held from January 9 to 13, 2023 at the Lorentz Center in Leiden. The manuscript presented here offers a critical perspective on the subject, synthesizing insights from the various brainstorming sessions and informal discussions that unfolded during this week of vibrant exchange of ideas. The result of these exchanges takes the form of a series of open questions that represent outstanding experimental, numerical, and theoretical challenges to be tackled in the near future. The manuscript offers a critical perspective on the shear-induced solid-to-liquid transition in amorphous materials, synthesizing insights from the talks and informal discussions that unfolded during a week of vibrant exchange at the Lorentz Center.