Principal Investigator Tal Cohen
The abrupt behavior of a material at onset of instability may either enounce failure or the triggering of a desired functionality. In our research we ask questions, such as:
What conditions trigger instabilities? How are instabilities exploited in nature? How can we exploit and harness instability for future applications? How can instability be avoided?
These questions have become particularly important with both the growing use of soft and compliant materials in engineering applications and the growing need for protective structures. In both cases materials are expected to perform at large deformations where nonlinear behavior is dominent.