Material science basics depend on knowing how substances become strong enough to resist breaking. MIT research shows how the breaking strength of interconnected strands follows a common rule across different materials including tyres, human tissues and spider webs. These findings will enhance material engineering practise by helping engineers make stronger tougher and better performing systems.
Professor Xuanhe Zhao, the Uncas and Helen Whitaker Professor and professor of mechanical engineering and civil and environmental engineering at MIT and his team from the Mechanical Engineering department discovered that materials behave consistently across scales when it comes to fracturing energy requirements. A team published their research findings about toughened materials in Physical Review X which creates fresh paths for material engineering advancements.
“Our findings reveal a simple, general law that governs the fracture energy of networks across various materials and length scales,”
stated Zhao.
“This discovery has significant implications for the design of new materials, structures, and metamaterials, allowing for the creation of systems that are incredibly tough, soft, and stretchable.”
Despite an established understanding of the importance of failure resistance in design of such networks, MIT researchers built a physical system that shows a universal scaling law that bridges length scales and makes it possible to predict the intrinsic fracture energy of diverse networks..
The model focuses on three key properties of the strands within a network: Our new model studies the physical forces applied to linked network elements that show their maximum length configuration before stretching plus how they react under tension. Considering the research details Graduate Student Chase Hartquist in his lead author position.
“This theory helps us predict how much energy it takes to break these networks by advancing a crack,”
He went onto state:
“It turns out that you can design tougher versions of these materials by making the strands longer, more stretchable, or resistant to higher forces before breaking.”
The research reveals that fracture resistance improves when strands within a network connect in bigger loops. This discovery offers important direction to businesses trying to make products like car tyres last longer or improve engineered tissue strength.
Real-World Validation Through 3D Printing
To test their theoretical model, the researchers turned to 3D printing, creating large-scale, stretchable networks. These networks showed fracture properties predicted by the scaling law, demonstrating that the principles are applicable to real materials.
“By adjusting these properties, car tires could last longer, tissues could better resist injury, and spider webs could become more durable,” says Hartquist.
The study situates itself within the broader field of architected materials, where the internal structure of a material is designed to achieve specific properties. From soft robotic actuators and artificial tissues to aerospace components, the potential applications are vast.
