Stress heterogeneities in sheared type-I collagen networks revealed by Boundary Stress Microscopy

PLoS One. 2015 Mar 3;10(3):e0118021. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118021. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Disordered fiber networks provide structural support to a wide range of important materials, and the combination of spatial and dynamic complexity may produce large inhomogeneities in mechanical properties, an effect that is largely unexplored experimentally. In this work, we introduce Boundary Stress Microscopy to quantify the non-uniform surface stresses in sheared collagen gels. We find local stresses exceeding average stresses by an order of magnitude, with variations over length scales much larger than the network mesh size. The strain stiffening behavior observed over a wide range of network mesh sizes can be parameterized by a single characteristic strain and associated stress, which describes both the strain stiffening regime and network yielding. The characteristic stress is approximately proportional to network density, but the peak boundary stress at both the characteristic strain and at yielding are remarkably insensitive to concentration.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Collagen Type I / chemistry*
  • Gels / chemistry
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Rats
  • Rheology
  • Stress, Mechanical

Substances

  • Collagen Type I
  • Gels

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.12​47629

Grants and funding

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation through grant DMR-0804782 and the AFOSR through grant FA9550-07-1-0130. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.