We have sought the answer to this question for years! In fact, I started working with contact lenses as an undergraduate at Florida in Greg Sawyer’s lab. Our answer at the time was “chemistry.” Our answer through the years shifted to consider structured surface layers, polymer fluctuation, and hydration, among others. But it is just […]
Congratulations to Jiho on his contact measurements to provide some baselines of properties of PDMS to help with Professor Hutchens’ work on soft fracture using cavitation rheology! And if you are new to the word, just imagine inserting a needle into your jello and blowing a hole in it! This paper can help predict the […]
Hao has worked hard over the past two years to flip current testing trends to see how pure rolling (the onset of RCF) affects subsequent wear. Look for a paper later this year!
When you see these images of the beetle peg morphology, doesn’t it make you wonder about the contact mechanics? Us too! In this work by Ophelia and Lihua, we describe how the snap of the click beetle is enabled by the rigid peg. But we also say that the contact mechanics matter. So interesting how […]
Preparing for a life in academia has many aspects, none of which a single mentor can adequately cover! Illinois offers 30 students throughout the Grainger College of Engineering a fellowship and two semesters of workshops and assignments to cover more of the bases; it’s the Mavis Future Faculty Fellows Academy. I’m ecstatic to report that […]
My collaborators Aimy and her student Ophelia presented two great talks about our ongoing work understanding how energy is generated and leveraged in the snap maneuvers of click beetles! Check out our prior paper for more details, and be on the lookout for at least 2 more publications this year! Many thanks to Sheila Patek […]
All PhD students in the lab had big leaps forward this semester.
Thank you to the faculty committee for their excellent feedback and guidance on Jiho’s presentation: “Lubrication mechanics in loosened polymer networks of polyacrylamide surfaces.”
Two weeks ago Jiho had the opportunity to participate in ‘Paper2Tree’ in which the lab supports the planting of a tree in the community to give back after publishing a journal articles. Following Jiho’s paper modeling duration-dependent lubrication earlier this year, he selected a Shingle Oak to be planted in King Park, and also led […]
Professor Dunn, Lihua, and visiting scholar Chao had a great time in downtown Chicago for the Tribology Frontiers Conference organized by Dr. David Burris from the University of Delaware. Professor Dunn presented Prabhakaran & Hao’s work on wear of hardened steels — take a journey under a train to get a feel for it. Lihua […]