The effects of high to ultra-high strain-rate deformations on soft materials, such as biological tissues, polymeric coatings, and other synthetic materials, are relatively unknown due to their high compliance, low impedance, and slow shear waves speeds. Cavitation in soft materials introduces challenging problems as it exhibits unique deformation and failure mechanisms. Laser-induced cavitation (LIC) is a thermally driven inertial process for generating large deformations at high to ultra-high strain-rates in optically transparent materials. 
We recently developed a new method to characterize the non-linear viscoelastic properties of soft materials undergoing high-strain rate deformations using LIC, called Inertial Microcavitation Rheometry (IMR). Through the integration of an appropriate theoretical framework, IMR estimates the material stresses and strains during cavitation for homogeneous, isotropic materials.   
The experimental input into IMR consists of kinematic information acquired from high-speed video. The long-time bubble radius at mechanical equilibrium and maximum bubble radius, defined as the material stretch in the hydrogel, determine the initial gas pressure in the bubble to initialize the simulation. However, the current theoretical framework was developed with limited experimental modulation of bubble amplitude, limiting the regime of accessible material deformations. The model also neglects to address inelastic material behavior at large material stretches. 
In this work, an extensive library of material stretches due to bubble oscillation are experimentally achieved to identify critical material stretches during the transition from viscoelastic to inelastic behavior by systematically controlling bubble amplitude and material deformations over a large stretch range. This library of material stretches defined by the bubble dynamics are used in the simulation to test the robustness of IMR, and identify new avenues for future theoretical and numerical developments. This critical experimental data will lay the foundation for incorporating damage and failure mechanisms of inelastic behavior of soft materials undergoing high-strain rate deformations. 

Modulating material stretch with inertial microcavitation to characterize high-rate finite material deformations in soft materials

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