Stressing gels out: exploiting gradients in shrinkable packings

Invited

Abstract

Diverse biological settings, ranging from actuation to drug delivery, rely on how soft gels respond to environmental stresses. In this talk, I will describe how we combine experiments and poroelasticity theory to investigate the influence of osmotic stresses in hydrogel packings. In some cases, the stresses that develop cause packings to crack. We show how cracking behavior depends on gradients in the stress profile, suggesting a way to control material behavior in this complex system. Ultimately, our work stimulates new findings and questions at the interface of Physics, Biology, Materials Science, and Engineering.

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Presenters

  • Sujit Datta

    Princeton University, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University

Authors

  • H. Jeremy Cho

    Princeton University, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University

  • Michael P Howard

    Princeton University, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin

  • Nancy B Lu

    Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton University

  • Sujit Datta

    Princeton University, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University