Dr. Justin Wilkerson has received a grant benefiting his research on dynamic cavitation and fracture of soft matter, which could have an impact in several areas, from emergency first aid to robotics.
Wilkerson, an assistant professor in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently one of four researchers awarded a Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Initiation grant by the Applied Mechanics Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
The objective of Wilkerson’s research is to develop a high-strain rate strength testing capability for cavitation in soft matter.
“Hydrogel-like soft materials are used in a broad range of applications, from wound dressings to soft robotics to disposable diapers,” Wilkerson said. “From a scientific perspective, they are a fairly interesting class of materials for fundamental studies.”
Hydrogel-like soft materials are transparent, which enables real-time visualization of cavitation and fracture processes with high-speed optical cameras. In structural metals, this type of real-time visualization of internal dynamic failure processes can only be achieved by synchrotrons, a type of circular particle accelerator.
Wilkerson heads the Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Phenomena, which carries out fundamental research on rate-dependent deformation and failure processes in a broad class of materials, including lightweight metals, metallic glasses, aerospace and hypersonic materials, geologic materials, energetic materials, hydrogels, and biological tissue.
The grant program is funded by the Haythornthwaite Foundation and targets new university faculty engaged in research involving theoretical and applied mechanics.