Emergence of large-scale patterns in soft quasicrystals

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Soft Matter Physics
• Mechanical Engineering

Background:

• Soft quasicrystals are materials exhibiting properties between crystalline solids and amorphous liquids.
• Understanding pattern formation in response to mechanical stimuli is crucial for designing advanced materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally investigate large-scale pattern formation in soft quasicrystals under mechanical loading.
• To explore the relationship between microscale properties and macroscale pattern emergence.
• To demonstrate the designability of these patterns through controlled initial configurations.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a soft material system capable of localized transformations.
• Applying mechanical loading to activate pattern formation.
• Analyzing microscale order loss and subsequent reemergence in large-scale patterns.
• Investigating the influence of initial local chirality and porosity.

Main Results:

• Observed large-scale organized pattern formation driven by localized transformations.
• Demonstrated initial loss of microscale quasicrystalline order, followed by its reemergence in patterns with rotational symmetry.
• Showcased pre-design capability of large-scale patterns by tuning initial chirality and porosity.
• Identified discrete characteristic lengths governed by the silver ratio in patterns with high shape similarity.

Conclusions:

• Soft quasicrystals offer a new class of transformative materials with switchable self-similarity across length scales.
• Mechanical loading is an effective trigger for controlled pattern formation.
• Initial microscale design parameters significantly influence emergent macroscale behavior.