Call for Abstracts – ESMC 2027 mini-symposium on Mechanics of Fibrous Materials and Textiles

Summary: This symposium will focus on experimental, theoretical and computational aspects of the mechanics of soft and hard fibrous materials, including gels, biomaterials, tissue, paper and cellulose networks, nonwovens, fiber composites, textile composites and textiles. These materials exhibit a complex mechanical response governed by strong nonlinearities associated with large deformations, contact between fibers, fiber reorganization during loading, strong anisotropy in the presence of preferential fiber alignment, presence of active components, embedding fluid or solid matrices, etc. In textile composites, quasi-inextensibility in the fiber orientation is coupled with a relatively small stiffness in the fiber orthogonal direction, leading to complex behavior during forming of composite reinforcements, prepregs and structural composites components.

Presentations that discuss experimental, theoretical and modeling advances that establish links between the structure, network architecture and physics and the emerging mechanical response are welcomed. Reports that address multiphysics and multiscale aspects and make use of machine learning and other data-driven approaches are of particular interest. Topics include but are not limited to:

• Mechanics of textiles:

– Mechanics and multiphysics of fibres, yarns, 2D and 3D fabrics, and textile composites

– Deformation and forming of composite reinforcements

– Flow (liquid and gas) through textiles

• Fibrous assemblies and networks:

– Mechanics of semi-flexible fiber networks

– Mechanics of paper and cellulose networks

– Mechanics of biological networks

– Damage and fracture

– Networks with transient bonds

– Interpenetrating networks

– Stimulus-responsive and active networks