This paper investigates swelling-induced eversion and flattening in curved bilayer gel beams. An explicit formula is produced to evaluate the change in curvature induced by large swelling deformations. The validity is tested against a fully coupled nonlinear three–dimensional stress-diffusion model. Limit situations for nearly-homogeneous and slightly curved beams are discussed.
Polymer gels are porous fluid-saturated materials which can swell or shrink triggered by various stimuli. The swelling/shrinking-induced deformation can generate large stresses which may lead to the failure of the material. In the present research, a nonlinear stress–diffusion model is employed to investigate the stress and the deformation state arising in hydrated constrained polymer gels when subject to a varying chemical potential. Two different constraint configurations are taken into account: (i) elastic constraint along the thickness direction and (ii) plane elastic constraint.
We investigate the morphing of bilayer naturally curved beams and cylindrical shells due to oil extraction from the outer layers. We fabricate bilayer naturally curved beams and cylindrical shells made of PDMS/(PDMS + silicone oil), use the experimental results to validate an explicit formula delivering the change in curvature of the beams, based on the modeling of oil extraction as a bulk contraction. We show as the same model, set up within a 3D context, delivers the morphing of bilayer cylindrical shells and identify potentially interesting results for designing future experiments.
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