Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2025

Modeling Mechanical Micro-instabilities in Biophysics and Materials Science

Résumé

From biophysics to materials science, mechanical micro-instabilities play a central role in a multitude of materials and structures (adhesion, fracture, friction, phase transformations and so on). Although these systems are very different in length-scale, time-scale and morphology, they are all composed of a number of units that exhibit two or more equilibrium states and can switch from one to another. Schematically, we can identify two main classes of micro-instabilities in these multi-stable systems. On the one hand, we may observe a bi-stable behavior between one ground state and one metastable state, being these two states different, yet mechanically resistant conformations. For instance, in this class can be inscribed conformational (folded to unfolded) transitions in polymers or macromolecules (mostly proteins), and martensitic phase transformations in metallic alloys and nanowires. On the other hand, the second class corresponds to transitions between unbroken and broken states of breakable units of the system. This process can be reversible, partly reversible or irreversible according to the specific physical phenomenon. Examples of this scheme include unzipping of DNA or RNA hairpins, denaturation of macromolecules, biological adhesion, peeling of films in nanotechnology, and fracture phenomena in mechanics of materials. In this review, we offer a description of phenomena related to these mechanical micro-instabilities, ranging from biophysics to materials science. After presenting an overview of typical examples in both contexts, physical-mathematical approaches suitable for modeling and predicting the behavior of these systems will be introduced. In order to consider both thermal and mechanical effects, they are based on the combination of statistical mechanics and micromechanics.

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hal-05321990 , version 1 (20-10-2025)

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Andrea Cannizzo, Manon Benedito, Fabio Manca, Stefano Giordano. Modeling Mechanical Micro-instabilities in Biophysics and Materials Science. Raffaele Pisano. Nanoscience & Nanotechnologies. Critical Problems, Science in Society, Historical Perspectives, Springer Cham, pp.103-180, 2025, Nanotechnology in the Life Sciences, 978-3-031-85121-6. ⟨10.1007/978-3-031-85122-3_3⟩. ⟨hal-05321990⟩
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