arXiv subjects

Xiangjun Xing

Publications and source records attributed to Xiangjun Xing.

63 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Elastic heterogeneity of soft random solids

Spatial heterogeneity in the elastic properties of soft random solids is investigated via a two-pronged approach. First, a nonlocal phenomenological model for the elastic free energy is examined. This features a quenched random kernel, which induces randomness in the residual stress and Lame coefficients. Second, a semi-microscopic model network is explored using replica statistical mechanics. The Goldstone fluctuations of the semi-microscopic model are shown to reproduce the phenomenological model, and via this correspondence the statistical properties of the residual stress and Lame coefficients are inferred. Correlations involving the residual stress are found to be long-ranged and governed by a universal parameter that also gives the mean shear modulus.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2006

Thermal Fluctuations and Rubber Elasticity

The effects of thermal elastic fluctuations in rubber materials are examined. It is shown that, due to an interplay with the incompressibility constraint, these fluctuations qualitatively modify the large-deformation stress-strain relation, compared to that of classical rubber elasticity. To leading order, this mechanism provides a simple and generic explanation for the peak structure of Mooney-Rivlin stress-strain relation, and shows a good agreement with experiments. It also leads to the prediction of a phonon correlation function that depends on the external deformation.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

From Vulcanization to Isotropic and Nematic Rubber Elasticity

A Landau theory is constructed for the vulcanization transition in cross-linked polymer systems with spontaneous nematic ordering. The neo-classical theory of the elasticity of nematic elastomers is derived via the minimization of this Landau free energy; this neo-classical theory contains the classical theory of rubber elasticity as its isotropic limit. Our work not only reveals the statistical-mechanical roots of these elasticity theories, but also demonstrates that they are applicable to a wide class of random solids. It also constitutes a starting-point for the investigation of sample-to-sample fluctuations in various forms of vulcanized matter.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Phases and Transitions in Phantom Nematic Elastomer Membranes

Motivated by recently discovered unusual properties of bulk nematic elastomers, we study a phase diagram of liquid-crystalline polymerized phantom membranes, focusing on in-plane nematic order. We predict that such membranes should enerically exhibit five phases, distinguished by their conformational and in-plane orientational properties, namely isotropic-crumpled, nematic-crumpled, isotropic-flat, nematic-flat and nematic-tubule phases. In the nematic-tubule phase, the membrane is extended along the direction of {\em spontaneous} nematic order and is crumpled in the other. The associated spontaneous symmetries breaking guarantees that the nematic-tubule is characterized by a conformational-orientational soft (Goldstone) mode and the concomitant vanishing of the in-plane shear modulus. We show that long-range orientational order of the nematic-tubule is maintained even in the presence of harmonic thermal luctuations. However, it is likely that tubule's elastic properties are ualitatively modified by these fluctuations, that can be studied using a nonlinear elastic theory for the nematic tubule phase that we derive at the end of this paper.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2004

Scaling of Entropic Shear Rigidity

The scaling of the shear modulus near the gelation/vulcanization transition is explored heuristically and analytically. It is found that in a dense melt the effective chains of the infinite cluster have sizes that scale sub-linearly with their contour length. Consequently, each contributes k_B T to the rigidity, which leads to a shear modulus exponent dν. In contrast, in phantom elastic networks the scaling is linear in the contour length, yielding an exponent identical to that of the random resistor network conductivity, as predicted by de Gennes'. For non-dense systems, the exponent should cross over to dνwhen the percolation length becomes much larger than the density-fluctuation length.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2003

Fluctuating Nematic Elastomer Membranes: a New Universality Class

We study the flat phase of nematic elastomer membranes with rotational symmetry spontaneously broken by in-plane nematic order. Such state is characterized by a vanishing elastic modulus for simple shear and soft transverse phonons. At harmonic level, in-plane orientational (nematic) order is stable to thermal fluctuations, that lead to short-range in-plane translational (phonon) correlations. To treat thermal fluctuations and relevant elastic nonlinearities, we introduce two generalizations of two-dimensional membranes in a three dimensional space to arbitrary D-dimensional membranes embedded in a d-dimensional space, and analyze their anomalous elasticities in an expansion about D=4. We find a new stable fixed point, that controls long-scale properties of nematic elastomer membranes. It is characterized by singular in-plane elastic moduli that vanish as a power-law eta_lambda=4-D of a relevant inverse length scale (e.g., wavevector) and a finite bending rigidity. Our predictions are asymptotically exact near 4 dimensions.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2002

Thermal fluctuations and anomalous elasticity of homogeneous nematic elastomers

We present a unified formulation of a rotationally invariant nonlinear elasticity for a variety of spontaneously anisotropic phases, and use it to study thermal fluctuations in nematic elastomers and spontaneously anisotropic gels. We find that in a thermodynamic limit homogeneous nematic elastomers are universally incompressible, are characterized by a universal ratio of shear moduli, and exhibit an anomalous elasticity controlled by a nontrivial low temperature fixed point perturbative in D=3-epsilon dimensions. In three dimensions, we make predictions that are asymptotically exact.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2002

Universal Elasticity and Fluctuations of Nematic Gels

We study elasticity of spontaneously orientationally-ordered amorphous solids, characterized by a vanishing transverse shear modulus, as realized for example by nematic elastomers and gels. We show that local heterogeneities and elastic nonlinearities conspire to lead to anomalous nonlocal universal elasticity controlled by a nontrivial infared fixed point. Namely, at long scales, such solids are characterized by universal shear and bending moduli that, respectively, vanish and diverge at long scales, are universally incompressible and exhibit a universal negative Poisson ratio and a non-Hookean elasticity down to arbitrarily low strains. Based on expansion about five dimensions, we argue that the nematic order is stable to thermal fluctuation and local hetergeneities down to d_lc < 3.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2001

Symmetries and Elasticity of Nematic Gels

A nematic liquid-crystal gel is a macroscopically homogeneous elastic medium with the rotational symmetry of a nematic liquid crystal. In this paper, we develop a general approach to the study of these gels that incorporates all underlying symmetries. After reviewing traditional elasticity and clarifying the role of broken rotational symmetries in both the reference space of points in the undistorted medium and the target space into which these points are mapped, we explore the unusual properties of nematic gels from a number of perspectives. We show how symmetries of nematic gels formed via spontaneous symmetry breaking from an isotropic gel enforce soft elastic response characterized by the vanishing of a shear modulus and the vanishing of stress up to a critical value of strain along certain directions. We also study the phase transition from isotropic to nematic gels. In addition to being fully consistent with approaches to nematic gels based on rubber elasticity, our description has the important advantages of being independent of a microscopic model, of emphasizing and clarifying the role of broken symmetries in determining elastic response, and of permitting easy incorporation of spatial variations, thermal fluctuations, and gel heterogeneity, thereby allowing a full statistical-mechanical treatment of these novel materials.

cond-mat.soft↗