This paper presents a new method of self-sensing both of the displacement and the external applied force at the tip of piezoelectric cantilevers. Integrated electric current across piezoelectric actuators is compensated against material nonlinearities (creep, hysteresis) to provide reliable information. We propose to compensate the hysteresis by using the Prandtl-Ishlinskii static approach whil...

The actin cortex has a well-documented ability to rapidly remodel and flow while maintaining long-range connectivity, but how this is achieved remains poorly understood. Here, we use computer simulations to explore how stress relaxation in cross-linked actin networks subjected to extensional stress depends on the interplay between network architecture and turnover. We characterize a regime in w...

Recent dense granular flow experiments have shown that shear deformation in one region of a granular medium fluidizes its entirety, including regions far from the sheared zone, effectively erasing the yield condition everywhere. This enables slow creep deformation to occur when an external force is applied to a probe in the nominally static regions of the material. The apparent change in rheolo...

In a single-component material, a chemical potential gradient or a wind force drives self-diffusion. If the self-diffusion flux has a divergence, the material deforms. We formulate a continuum theory to be consistent with this kinematic constraint. When the diffusion flux is divergence-free, the theory decouples into Stokes’s theory for creep and Herring’s theory for self-diffusion. A length em...

PURPOSE To investigate the role of scleral creep in the axial elongation of chick and tree shrew eyes with induced myopia. METHODS Form-deprivation myopia was induced with a diffusing occluder worn over one eye. Scleral samples from the posterior pole and equatorial regions of myopic, contralateral (control), and age-matched normal chick and tree shrew eyes were loaded in vitro with a force o...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Russeting in apples (Malus × domestica Borkh.) and pears (Pyrus communis L.) is a disorder of the fruit skin that results from microscopic cracks in the cuticle and the subsequent formation of a periderm. To better understand russeting, rheological properties of cuticular membranes (CM) and periderm membranes (PM) were studied from the russet-sensitive apple 'Karmijn de Sonn...

the creep/recovery behavior of wood flour-polypropylene was compared with medium density fiberboard (mdf) and particleboard. for this purpose, wood flour-polypropylene composites (with and without compatibilizer)were manufactured by using a laboratory twin-screw extruder. the mdf and particleboard panels were obtained from local producers. short term flexural creep tests at 30% of ultimate bend...

The slow motion of a crack line is studied via an experiment in which sheets of paper are split into two halves in a "peel-in-nip" (PIN) geometry under a constant load, in creep. The velocity-force relation is exponential. The dynamics of the fracture line exhibits intermittency, or avalanches, which are studied using acoustic emission. The energy statistics is a power law, with the exponent be...