Mechanical properties of crosslinks controls failure mechanism of hierarchical intermediate filament networks
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Author(s)
Qin, Zhao
Buehler, Markus J
Date Issued
January 2012
Journal
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Letters
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Citation
Qin, Zhao and Markus J. Buehler. "Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Letters." Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Letters 2, 1 (January 2012): 014005. © 2012 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Intermediate filaments are one of the key components of the cytoskeleton in eukaryotic cells, and their mechanical properties are found to be equally important for physiological function and disease. While the mechanical properties of single full length filaments have been studied, how the mechanical properties of crosslinks affect the mechanical property of the intermediate filament network is not well understood. This paper applies a mesoscopic model of the intermediate network with varied crosslink strengths to investigate its failure mechanism under the extreme mechanical loading. It finds that relatively weaker crosslinks lead to a more flaw tolerant intermediate filament network that is also 23% stronger than the one with strong crosslinks. These findings suggest that the mechanical properties of interfacial components are critical for bioinspired designs which provide intriguing mechanical properties. Key words: failure mechanism; flow tolerance; intermediate filament; protein network; soft material; rupture; crosslink strength; bioinspired design
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Computational Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/2.1201405
