Wuyang Zhao’s talk at the 4th Frascal Symposium

On November 20, 2025, the 4th Frascal Symposium (research training group “Fracture across Scales”) was organised in the beautiful “Orangerie” located in the palace garden in Erlangen. Wuyang Zhao gave a talk entitled “Microscopic mechanisms of plasticity and fracture in glassy polymers” as an invited speaker and presented his recent work on understanding the mechanisms of strain softening, strain hardening, fracture in glassy polymers, and toughning effects of nanocomposites. Besides Wuyang, this symposium brought together international scientists from various disciplines: Tristan Baumberger (Université Paris Cité) gave a talk on “Length- and time-scales of crack growth in a polymer hydrogel”, Daniel Köhn (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) addressed “Fracture across scales from microstructures to mid ocean ridges”, Nina Kirchner (Stockholm University) provided insights into “Fractures in northern icy environments: challenges for glaciological and cryospheric research”, and Miguel Ángel Moreno-Mateos  focused on “Advances in soft fracture (and cutting) mechanics”. In summary, this event was an excellent platform for scientific and social exchange across scales and disciplines.