Swelling-induced wrinkling in layered gel beams

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society. A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Vol. 473; no. 2207; p. 20170454
• Main Authors: Nardinocchi, P., Puntel, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society Publishing 01.11.2017
• Edition: Royal Society (Great Britain)
• Subjects: Actuation; Beams (structural); Bending machines; Bilayer Beam; Biomedical materials; Finite Strains; Gels; Mechanical devices; Morphing; Morphing And Sensing; Perturbation methods; Stiffness; Strain; Surface Instability; Surface stability; Swelling; Swelling Gel; Wrinkling; bilayer beam; finite strains; surface instability; swelling gel; wrinkling; morphing and sensing

Gels are widely employed in smart mechanical devices and biomedical applications. Swelling-induced bending actuation can be obtained by means of a simple bilayer gel beam. We show that this system can also exhibit wrinkling patterns of potential interest for structural morphing and sensing. We study...