Abstract
We present a study on swelling-induced circumferential buckling of tubular shaped gels. Inhomogeneous stress develops as the gel swells under mechanical constraints, which gives rise to spontaneous buckling instability without an external force. Full control over the postbuckling pattern is experimentally demonstrated. A simple analytical model is developed using elastic energy to predict stability and postbuckling patterns upon swelling. Analysis reveals that the height to diameter ratio is the most critical design parameter to determine the buckling pattern, which agrees well with experimental and numerical results.
- Received 8 February 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.214304
© 2012 American Physical Society
Focus
How to Make Soft, Wavy Structures
Published 25 May 2012
A process for making wavy tubes in a controlled way could lead to the predictable fabrication of complex shapes.
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