Zhigang Suo

TL;DR: Partition of unity enrichment techniques are developed for bimaterial interface cracks in this article, where a discontinuous function and the two-dimensional near-tip asymptotic displacement functions are added to the finite element approximation using the framework of partition of unity.

TL;DR: Alginate/PAAM IPN hydrogels can sustain a compressive strain of over 90% with minimal loss of Young's Modulus as well as minimal swelling for up to 50 days of soaking in culture conditions, and although cells exposed to conditioned media demonstrate slight reductions in proliferation and metabolic activity, these effects are abrogated in a dose-dependent manner.

TL;DR: Most hydrogels have poor mechanical properties, severely limiting their scope of applications, but here a hybrid hydrogel, consisting of hydrophilic and crystalline polymer networks, achieves an elastic modulus of 5 MPa, a strength of 2.5 MPa and a fracture energy of 14 000 J m-2 while maintaining physical integrity in concentrated electrolyte solutions.

TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic analysis for commonly used fracture specimens to investigate the role of material orthotropy in fracture behavior of unidirectional composites is conducted, which significantly reduces the complexities involved in both experimental investigation and theoretical modelling.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors tried to enhance the water retention capacity of polyacrylamide hydrogels by introducing highly hydratable salts into the hydrogel, which showed enhanced water retention in different level.