CHIRAL GROWTH OF THIN BIOMATERIALS INDUCED BY ANISOTROPIC STRUCTURAL MECHANICS

Abstract

Chiral growth is ubiquitous in nature and has always been of great interest in the field of biomimetic and man-made materials, but its formation mechanism is complex. In order to clarify this mechanism, with the help of the plate theory and the theory from differential geometry, we established a new theoretical model that can be used to describe the interaction between anisotropic elasticity and anisotropic residual stress of slender biomaterials and provide additional insight onto the mechanical mechanism of biomaterial’s morphological chiral growth. Based on these results, it appears that misfit of material properties and residual stresses may create various chiral morphologies, like helices and twisting belts. It is found here that the cooperative and competitive interactions between anisotropic elasticity and anisotropic residual stress can also give rise to chiral morphologies, and macro shapes, sizes, and handedness of chiral morphologies can be designed by residual stresses orientation angles and elastic parameters of biomaterials. This theoretical model is in good agreement with the recent experiments and can provide theoretical guidance for the design of medical-assisted soft robots.