The role of shape disorder in the collective behaviour of aligned fibrous matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how intrinsic shape disorder in aligned fibrous bundles influences their collective mechanical behavior, combining experiments, simulations, and theory to inform the design of fibrous materials with tailored properties.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive approach linking fiber shape disorder to mechanical response, enabling the design of fibrous materials with specific characteristics.

Findings

Shape disorder significantly affects bundle stiffness and deformation.

Statistical properties of fiber shapes predict collective behavior.

The framework guides the engineering of fibrous materials with desired properties.

Abstract

We study the compression of bundles of aligned macroscopic fibers with intrinsic shape disorder, as found in human hair and in many other natural and man-made systems. We show by a combination of experiments, numerical simulations and theory how the statistical properties of the shapes of the fibers control the collective mechanical behaviour of the bundles. This work paves the way for designing aligned fibrous matter with pre-required properties from large numbers of individual strands of selected geometry and rigidity.