01081nas a2200145   4500008004100000245007400041210006900115260003100184520057600215100002700791700002100818700002300839700002200862856005100884       2014                        en  d00aBuckling dynamics of a solvent-stimulated stretched elastomeric sheet0 aBuckling dynamics of a solventstimulated stretched elastomeric s  bRoyal Society of Chemistry3 aWhen stretched uniaxially, a thin elastic sheet may exhibit buckling. The occurrence of buckling depends on the geometrical properties of the sheet and the magnitude of the applied strain. Here we show that an elastomeric sheet initially stable under uniaxial stretching can destabilize when exposed to a solvent that swells the elastomer. We demonstrate experimentally and computationally that the features of the buckling pattern depend on the magnitude of stretching, and this observation offers a new way for controlling the shape of a swollen homogeneous thin sheet.1 aLucantonio, Alessandro1 aRoché, Matthieu1 aNardinocchi, Paola1 aStone, Howard, A.  uhttp://urania.sissa.it/xmlui/handle/1963/3496701169nas a2200133   4500008004100000245007700041210006900118260003400187520069100221100002700912700002300939700002200962856005100984       2014                        en  d00aSwelling dynamics of a thin elastomeric sheet under uniaxial pre-stretch0 aSwelling dynamics of a thin elastomeric sheet under uniaxial pre  bAmerican Institute of Physics3 aIt has been demonstrated experimentally that pre-stretch affects the swelling of an elastomeric membrane when it is exposed to a solvent. We study theoretically the one-dimensional swelling of a pre-stretched thin elastomeric sheet, bonded to an impermeable rigid substrate, to quantify the influence of pre-stretch. We show that the solvent uptake increases when pre-stretch increases, both at equilibrium and during the swelling transient, where it exhibits two different scaling regimes. The coupling between the solvent uptake and pre-stretch may be practically exploited to design soft actuators where the swelling-induced deformations can be controlled by varying the pre-stretch.1 aLucantonio, Alessandro1 aNardinocchi, Paola1 aStone, Howard, A.  uhttp://urania.sissa.it/xmlui/handle/1963/3511301394nas a2200133   4500008004100000245006500041210006400106260002800170520094000198100002701138700002301165700002101188856005101209       2014                        en  d00aSwelling-induced and controlled curving in layered gel beams0 aSwellinginduced and controlled curving in layered gel beams  bRoyal Society of London3 aWe describe swelling-driven curving in originally straight and non-homogeneous beams. We present and verify a structural model of swollen beams, based on a new point of view adopted to describe swelling-induced deformation processes in bilayered gel beams, that is based on the split of the swelling-induced deformation of the beam at equilibrium into two components, both depending on the elastic properties of the gel. The method allows us to: (i) determine beam stretching and curving, once assigned the characteristics of the solvent bath and of the non-homogeneous beam, and (ii) estimate the characteristics of non-homogeneous flat gel beams in such a way as to obtain, under free-swelling conditions, three-dimensional shapes. The study was pursued by means of analytical, semi-analytical and numerical tools; excellent agreement of the outcomes of the different techniques was found, thus confirming the strength of the method.1 aLucantonio, Alessandro1 aNardinocchi, Paola1 aPezzulla, Matteo  uhttp://urania.sissa.it/xmlui/handle/1963/34987