Localization through Surface Folding in Solid Foams under Compression

P. M. Reis, F. Corson, A. Boudaoud, and B. Roman
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 045501 – Published 22 July 2009

Abstract

We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of the compression of a solid foam coated with a thin elastic film. Past a critical compression threshold, a pattern of localized folds emerges with a characteristic size that is imposed by an instability of the thin surface film. We perform optical surface measurements of the statistical properties of these localization zones and find that they are characterized by robust exponential tails in the strain distributions. Following a hybrid continuum and statistical approach, we develop a theory that accurately describes the nucleation and length scale of these structures and predicts the characteristic strains associated with the localized regions.

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  • Received 11 March 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.045501

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

P. M. Reis1,*, F. Corson2, A. Boudaoud2, and B. Roman3

  • 1Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
  • 2Laboratoire de Physique Statistique, École Normale Supérieure, UPMC Paris 06, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France
  • 3PMMH, CNRS UMR 7636, ESPCI, ParisTech, Univ. Paris 6 & Paris 7, 10 Rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

  • *preis@mit.edu

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Vol. 103, Iss. 4 — 24 July 2009

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