Modulation of acoustomechanical instability and bifurcation behavior of soft materials

We demonstrate acoustically triggered giant deformation of soft materials, and reveal the snap-through instability and bifurcation behavior of soft materials in nonlinear deformation regime in response to combined loading of mechanical and acoustic radiation forces. Our theoretical results suggest that acoustomechanical instability and bifurcation can be readily modulated by varying either the mechanical or acoustic force. This modulation functionality arises from the sensitivity of acoustic wave propagation to nonlinear deformation of soft material, particularly to ratio of initial geometrical size of soft material to acoustic wavelength in the material. The tunable acoustomechanical instability and bifurcation behavior of soft materials enables innovative design of programmable mechanical metamaterials. PACS numbers: 43.35.+d, 43.25.+y, 46.70.De, 61.41.+e.