About this Research Topic
A key pathway that may lead to the “fourth industrial revolution” lies at the “Materials 4.0” paradigm where many projects are carried out such as the Materials Genome Initiative in the United States that aim to solve critical materials challenge. Soft materials attract lots of attention due to their intriguing properties and immense, intractable design space. However, their intrinsic process-structure-property relationship remains elusive due to difficulty in capturing multiscale material behaviors, which requires multiscale experiments and modeling and simulation using models and computers. This is based on new experimental techniques and the significant increase of computational speeds with optimized hardware and software.
Material challenges significantly impede the advance of modern technologies that may lead to the the “fourth industrial revolution”. Discovering and selecting optimal material efficiently that can be used in various engineering needs such as mechanical/civil/chemical/sports engineering remain difficult owing to a lack of understanding of the material process-structure-property relationship. To solve this problem, many countries have launched various scientific projects that aim to understand the fundamental theories and solve practical engineering challenges with materials science such as the Materials Genome Initiative in the United States. Nonetheless, soft materials have been discovered to be promising in significantly expanding the design space of engineering materials due to their multiscale structures ranging from entirely amorphous to hierarchical, ordered structures, which yield interesting and remarkable physical and mechanical properties beyond conventional materials. The endeavours of investigating soft materials also accelerate the discovery of bio-inspired materials. However, a lack of understanding of the process-structure-property relationship of the soft materials significantly impedes the development of new materials that show great potential in various engineering needs. Multiscale investigation of materials captures material behaviors from nano-, micro-, meso-, to macro- with experiments and multiscale modeling and simulation using models and computers. Furthermore, artificial intelligence, especially machine learning methods, opens up a new era for discovering ideal material candidates for use in engineering practice which avoids the resource-consuming trial-and-error process. To address the above challenges with state-of-the-art techniques, this special issue will be focused on elucidating the mechanistic studies of novel soft materials, aiming to cover the most advanced findings that contribute to tackle this barrier that promotes our understanding of the multiscale phenomena or properties of soft materials.
Understanding the process-structure-property relationship of soft materials lies at the heart of materials science. However, the physical and mechanical properties of soft materials, governed by phenomena spanning different spatiotemporal scales such as nano-, micro-, meso-, and macro-scales, cannot be fully harnessed to make contributions to human society due to a lack of cross-scale understanding of these multiscale phenomena. In this special issue, we aim to cover the most state-of-the-art findings that contribute to tackle this barrier that promotes our understanding of the multiscale phenomena or properties of soft materials.
In this Research Topic we welcome submissions on, but not limited to, the following:
• Multiscale modeling and simulations
• Multiscale experiments
• First-principle calculations
• Molecular Dynamics simulations
• Constitutive models of soft materials
• Forcefield development
• Extreme properties of soft materials
• Soft materials in extreme environment
• Advance in mechanics of materials theory
• Advance in physical properties of soft materials
• Advance in polymer physics theory
• Additive manufacturing
• Artificial intelligence in discovering soft materials
• Artificial intelligence in methodology
• Applications of soft materials in sustainability
• Applications of soft materials in sports engineering
• Applications of soft materials in healthcare
• Applications of soft materials in energy storage and conversion
Material challenges significantly impede the advance of modern technologies that may lead to the the “fourth industrial revolution”. Discovering and selecting optimal material efficiently that can be used in various engineering needs such as mechanical/civil/chemical/sports engineering remain difficult owing to a lack of understanding of the material process-structure-property relationship. To solve this problem, many countries have launched various scientific projects that aim to understand the fundamental theories and solve practical engineering challenges with materials science such as the Materials Genome Initiative in the United States. Nonetheless, soft materials have been discovered to be promising in significantly expanding the design space of engineering materials due to their multiscale structures ranging from entirely amorphous to hierarchical, ordered structures, which yield interesting and remarkable physical and mechanical properties beyond conventional materials. The endeavours of investigating soft materials also accelerate the discovery of bio-inspired materials. However, a lack of understanding of the process-structure-property relationship of the soft materials significantly impedes the development of new materials that show great potential in various engineering needs. Multiscale investigation of materials captures material behaviors from nano-, micro-, meso-, to macro- with experiments and multiscale modeling and simulation using models and computers. Furthermore, artificial intelligence, especially machine learning methods, opens up a new era for discovering ideal material candidates for use in engineering practice which avoids the resource-consuming trial-and-error process. To address the above challenges with state-of-the-art techniques, this special issue will be focused on elucidating the mechanistic studies of novel soft materials, aiming to cover the most advanced findings that contribute to tackle this barrier that promotes our understanding of the multiscale phenomena or properties of soft materials.
Understanding the process-structure-property relationship of soft materials lies at the heart of materials science. However, the physical and mechanical properties of soft materials, governed by phenomena spanning different spatiotemporal scales such as nano-, micro-, meso-, and macro-scales, cannot be fully harnessed to make contributions to human society due to a lack of cross-scale understanding of these multiscale phenomena. In this special issue, we aim to cover the most state-of-the-art findings that contribute to tackle this barrier that promotes our understanding of the multiscale phenomena or properties of soft materials.
In this Research Topic we welcome submissions on, but not limited to, the following:
• Multiscale modeling and simulations
• Multiscale experiments
• First-principle calculations
• Molecular Dynamics simulations
• Constitutive models of soft materials
• Forcefield development
• Extreme properties of soft materials
• Soft materials in extreme environment
• Advance in mechanics of materials theory
• Advance in physical properties of soft materials
• Advance in polymer physics theory
• Additive manufacturing
• Artificial intelligence in discovering soft materials
• Artificial intelligence in methodology
• Applications of soft materials in sustainability
• Applications of soft materials in sports engineering
• Applications of soft materials in healthcare
• Applications of soft materials in energy storage and conversion
Keywords: • Multiscale modeling and simulationMechanics, Materials properties, Process-structure-property relationship, Soft materials, Metals, Polymers, Ceramics, Composites, Additive manufacturing, Machine learning
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
