Figure 1

(Color online) (a) Experimental setup for dimer chain consisting of a periodic array of $N$ consecutive stainless steel beads interspersed with one PTFE bead. (b) Schematic diagram of the composition of the sensors placed in the chain.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 2

(Color online) Force versus time response obtained from chains of dimers consisting of (a),(b) one or (c),(d) two stainless steel beads alternating with one PTFE bead. (a),(c) show experimental results, and (b),(d) show the corresponding numerical data. The striker has a velocity of $1.37\mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s}$ on impact and the $y$-axis scale is $2N$ per division (visible as tick marks on the left sides of the plots). The numbered arrows point to the corresponding particles in the chain. In both configurations, the second curve (showing the results for particle 24) represents a PTFE bead and the other curves represent steel beads.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 3

(Color online) Comparison of experiments, numerical simulations, and theory. (a) Scaling of the maximum dynamic (dimensional) force ${\overline{F}}_m$ versus (dimensional) propagation speed ${\overline{V}}_m$ in a 1:1 stainless steel:PTFE chain. The numerical simulations are shown by the solid curve and the experimental results are shown by points (with error bars). The dashed curve shows the numerical results using the elastic modulus $E=0.6\mathrm{GPa}$ for PTFE, the nominal static value reported in most of the literature [13, 33]. (b) Evolution of solitary wave width [full width at half maximum (FWHM)] as a function of bead number (also shown as a $\log$-$\log$ plot in the inset). The experimental values are shown by solid (green) squares and the numerical values are shown by open (red) circles. (In both cases, we include curves between the points as visual guides.) The theoretical value for the FWHM with $m_1⪢m_2$ is given by line 1, that for the 1:1 steel:PTFE chain is given by line 2, and that for a homogeneous chain is given by line 3.Reuse & Permissions