Nature Communications (Mar 2019)

Discontinuous rate-stiffening in a granular composite modeled after cornstarch and water

  • David Z. Chen,
  • Hu Zheng,
  • Dong Wang,
  • Robert P. Behringer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09300-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 6

Abstract

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Cornstarch and water is a mixture that solidifies under impact. The authors find that ordinary sand behaves in a similar way when coated with a thin layer of viscoelastic polymer, suggesting a potential route for designing materials which respond dramatically to fast deformations.