Abstract
An ultrathin polymer sheet floating on a fluid forms a periodic pattern of parallel wrinkles when subjected to uniaxial compression. The wave number of the wrinkle pattern increases sharply near the fluid meniscus where the translational symmetry of this one-dimensional corrugated profile is broken. We show that the observed multiscale morphology is controlled by a new “softness” number that quantifies the relative strength of capillary forces at the edge and the rigidity of the bulk pattern. We discover a new elastic cascade by which the wrinkling pattern in the bulk is smoothly matched to the fine structure at the edge by a discrete series of higher Fourier modes.
- Received 26 October 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.038302
©2010 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Ironing out the wrinkles
Published 14 July 2010
Experiments with thin films show what factors control wrinkling and folding.
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