Please join us on Monday, April 13 for our next HEMI Seminar, held in collaboration with CISMMS.
Speaker: Laurence Brassart
Associate Professor, Solid Mechanics and Materials Group
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
Title: Micromechanical modelling of rubbery networks
Abstract: The deformation and failure response of rubbery networks, such as elastomers and hydrogels, largely depends on network-level features, such as polymer chain length distribution, crosslink density and topological defects. However, predictive tools that directly connect molecular- and network-scale parameters to the macroscopic mechanical response remain elusive. Atomistic simulations are computationally prohibitive at relevant length and time scales, while continuum models often rely on phenomenological fitting parameters. In this talk, I will present some recent modeling efforts that specifically target the mesoscale using computational discrete network simulations. I will also present new statistical mechanics models for single chains describing the effect of bond deformation on chain stretching and scission kinetics. Together, these developments constitute physically grounded building blocks toward more predictive network models.
Bio: Laurence Brassart is an Associate Professor in the Solid Mechanics and Materials Group of the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford. She received her PhD in Engineering Sciences from the University of Louvain in 2011. She then successively held postdoctoral positions at Harvard University and the University of Louvain. From 2015 to 2019, she was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Monash University, Australia. She is the recipient of an EPSRC New Investigator Award (2021) and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (2022). Laurence’s research focuses on the development of micromechanical and constitutive modeling approaches for engineering materials, including polymers, composites, soft materials, and energy materials, with emphasis on multiscale and multiphysics aspects.
