Fibrous Materials as Soft Matter

This paper proposes a new type of soft matter, namely fibrous materials. The common characteristics of soft matter that are shared by fibrous materials, such as the multiphase composition, porous and highly deformable structures, and the non-negligible contributions of entropy to the material behavior are illustrated. More importantly, some unique problems, complex and interesting, yet more or less unrealized, or ignored in dealing with fibrous materials are highlighted. The study includes the packing geometry of fibers, macro—micro behavioral inconsistencies, friction and self-locking mechanisms, bi-modular behavior, and allometric or scaling problems. The fabric wrinkling or crumpling problem and its peculiar fracture behavior and failure criteria are discussed. This paper also elucidates the significance of treating fibrous materials as soft matter and the great potential of such study to materials in general and to biomaterials in particular.