Mechanics of Stimuli-Responsive Membrane-Based Materials

膜基材料具有由薄双层膜分隔的流体室。这些膜能够模仿细胞膜，并且精心安排的膜网络已被考虑用于从助听器到执行器的工程应用。该奖项支持关于膜将机械力转化为有意义结果的能力的基础研究，如能量转换和通过材料网络的受控扩散。这项工作的目标是发展一种低成本的材料，这种材料易于组装，同时仍可用于从制药到可再生能源等行业。这项研究是高度跨学科的，结合了机械、电气、生物和化学工程。该奖项的成果将用于促进跨学科研究项目，开发开源教育工具和预测建模软件。有证据表明，这些膜基材料可能被机械转导激活和控制，利用材料独特的乳化弹性。施加的机械力与内部膜响应之间的多物理场相互作用尚未很好地表征，需要新的模型和实验来进行研究。该奖项详细研究了材料变形和膜活性之间的这种假设联系，创建了将大块材料的变形与内部膜的后续变形联系起来的力学模型。这项工作是通过实验和理论相结合的方法来完成的。首先，将创建大型膜基材料网络。然后，这些网络将通过各种方法变形，包括体积位移、磁力、渗透冲击和高频振动。每种激发材料的方法都会在界面膜中产生不同的响应，并允许确定诸如材料成分的体积模量、刚度和阻尼等参数。这些值将用于填充材料变形模型，其中材料将被模拟为具有可变表面元素和轮廓的固定体积隔间的集合，以检查材料形态的动态变化。该项目旨在解决当前材料机械变形模型中的空白，并将说明膜基材料中有意义的机械转导的必要参数。

Membrane-based materials possess fluid compartments separated by thin bilayer membranes. These membranes are capable of mimicking cell membranes, and carefully arranged membrane networks have been considered for use in engineering applications ranging from hearing aids to actuators. This award supports fundamental research on the ability of the membrane to convert mechanical force into meaningful outcomes such as energy conversion and controlled diffusion through the material network. The goal of this work is the advancement of a low-cost material that is simple to assemble while still useful for industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to renewable energy. The research is highly interdisciplinary, combining mechanical, electrical, biological, and chemical engineering. Results from this award will be used to promote interdisciplinary research projects and to develop open-source educational tools and predictive modeling software. There is evidence that these membrane-based materials may be activated and controlled by mechanotransduction, harnessing the unique emulsive elasticity of the material. The multiphysics interactions between applied mechanical force and the response of the internal membranes are not well characterized, requiring new models and experiments for their study. This hypothesized link between material deformation and membrane activity is investigated in detail through this award, creating mechanical models linking the deformation of the bulk material to subsequent deformations of the internal membranes. This task is accomplished through coupled experimental and theoretical work. First, large networks of the membrane-based material will be created. Then these networks will be deformed through various methods including bulk displacement, magnetic forces, osmotic shocks, and high-frequency vibration. Each of these methods for material excitation produces different responses in the interfacial membranes, and will allow for the determination of parameters such as the bulk modulus, stiffness, and damping of the material components. These values will be used to populate models for the material deformation, wherein the material will be simulated as collections of fixed-volume compartments with variable surface elements and contours, examining the dynamic changes in material morphology. This project is designed to address the gaps in current models for the mechanical deformation of the material, and will illustrate the necessary parameters for meaningful mechanotransduction in membrane-based materials.