Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 16 May 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5878, pp. 912 - 916
DOI: 10.1126/science.1154069
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Stress and Fold Localization in Thin Elastic Membranes

Luka Pocivavsek,1 Robert Dellsy,2 Andrew Kern,1 Sebastián Johnson,3 Binhua Lin,2 Ka Yee C. Lee,1 Enrique Cerda3*

Thin elastic membranes supported on a much softer elastic solid or a fluid deviate from their flat geometries upon compression. We demonstrate that periodic wrinkling is only one possible solution for such strained membranes. Folds, which involve highly localized curvature, appear whenever the membrane is compressed beyond a third of its initial wrinkle wavelength. Eventually the surface transforms into a symmetry-broken state with flat regions of membrane coexisting with locally folded points, reminiscent of a crumpled, unsupported membrane. We provide general scaling laws for the wrinkled and folded states and proved the transition with numerical and experimental supported membranes. Our work provides insight into the interfacial stability of such diverse systems as biological membranes such as lung surfactant and nanoparticle thin films.

1 Department of Chemistry and James Franck Institute (JFI), University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
2 Center for Advanced Radiation Sources and JFI, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
3 Departamento de Física and Centro para Investigación Interdisciplinaria Avanzada en Ciencias de los Materiales, Universidad de Santiago, Av. Ecuador 3493, Santiago, Chile.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ecerda{at}lauca.usach.cl

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From the Cover: The macroscopic delamination of thin films from elastic substrates.
D. Vella, J. Bico, A. Boudaoud, B. Roman, and P. M. Reis (2009)
PNAS 106, 10901-10906
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stress-driven buckling patterns in spheroidal core/shell structures.
J. Yin, Z. Cao, C. Li, I. Sheinman, and X. Chen (2008)
PNAS 105, 19132-19135
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)