Soft Materials

This book provides a concise introduction to soft matter modelling, together with an up-to-date review of the continuum mechanical description of soft and biological materials, from the basics to the latest scientific materials. It also includes multi-physics descriptions, such as chemo-, thermo-, and electro-mechanical coupling. The new edition includes a new chapter on fractures as well as numerous corrections, clarifications and new solutions. Based on a graduate course taught for the past few years at Technion, it presents original explanations for a number of standard materials, and features detailed examples to complement all topics discussed.

Representing the wide breadth academic disciplines involved in this ever-expanding area of research, this reference provides a comprehensive overview of current scientific and technological advancements in soft materials analysis and application. Documenting new and emerging challenges in this burgeoning field, Soft Materials is a unique and outsta

This book presents a compilation of self-contained chapters covering a wide range of topics within the broad field of soft condensed matter. Each chapter starts with basic definitions to bring the reader up-to-date on the topic at hand, describing how to use fluid flows to generate soft materials of high value either for applications or for basic research. Coverage includes topics related to colloidal suspensions and soft materials and how they differ in behavior, along with a roadmap for researchers on how to use soft materials to study relevant physics questions related to geometrical frustration.

This book covers the design, synthesis, properties, and applications of functional photoactive soft materials, including aspects of polymers, block copolymers, elastomers, biomaterials, liquid crystals, chemical and physical gels, colloids, and host-guest systems. It combines, in a unified manner, authoritative accounts describing various structural and functional aspects of photoactive soft materials. Photoactive Functional Soft Materials: Preparation, Properties, and Applications: * Brings together the state-of-the-art knowledge on photoactive functional soft materials in a unified manner * Covers a vibrant research field with tremendous application potential in areas such as optoelectronics, photonics, and energy generation * Appeals to a large interdisciplinary audience because it is highly useful for researchers and engineers working on photonics, optoelectronics, imaging and sensing, nanotechnology, and energy materials Photoactive Functional Soft Materials: Preparation, Properties and Applications focuses on the design and fabrication of photoactive functional soft materials for materials science, nanophotonics, nanotechnology, and biomedical applications.

Magneto-sensitive soft materials are new synthetic functional materials that is normally composed of ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic particles (size in a range from several nanometers to hundreds of micrometers), carriers (including water, organic solvent, liquids, gels, polymer and foams), surfactants and necessary additives. Being different from “hard” solid materials, “soft” means magneto-sensitive materials exist in the form of colloidal liquids, gels, and elastomers, such as magnetic fluids (MF), also called ferrofluids, magnetic liquids, magnetorheological fluids (MRF), magnetorheological gels (MRG), magnetorheological elastomers (MRE) and magnetorheological foams (MRFoam), so as to possess fluidity and magnetism simultaneously and can be easily deformed by applying external magnetic field force.

This book contains contributions from leading researchers in biomechanics, nanomechanics, tribology, contact mechanics, materials science and applications on various experimental techniques including atomic force microscopy (AFM) for studying soft, biomimetic and biological materials and objects. Biologists, physicists, researchers applying methods of contact mechanics and researchers testing materials using indentation techniques along with many other applied scientists will find this book a useful addition to their libraries. Moreover, several reviews in this book are written as introductions to several important and rather sophisticated research areas such as depth-sensing indentation, studying of biological cells by AFM probes, mechanics of adhesive contact and contact between viscoelastic (hereditary elastic) solids. The book containing new theoretical models, results of experimental studies and numerical simulations, along with reviews of above mentioned areas of contact mechanics in application to biological systems, would be beneficial for researchers in many areas of biology, medicine, engineering, mechanics and biomimetics.

This book provides an introduction to this exciting and relativelynew subject with chapters covering natural and synthetic polymers,colloids, surfactants and liquid crystals highlighting the many andvaried applications of these materials. Written by an expert in thefield, this book will be an essential reference for people workingin both industry and academia and will aid in understanding of thisincreasingly popular topic. Contains a new chapter on biological soft matter Newly edited and updated chapters including updated coverageof recent aspects of polymer science. Contain problems at the end of each chapter to facilitateunderstanding

Written by 1991 Nobel laureate Pierre Gilles de Gennes, this fascinating book addresses topics ranging from soft-matter physics to the activities of science: the role of individual or team work, the relation of discovery to correction, and the interplay of conscience and knowledge. "Reading this book can be compared to strolling through a magnificent garden of fragile objects...I highly recommend it to any reader who is interested in condensed matter physics and science at large."-PHYSICS TODAY