Article abstract
Nature Materials 5, 216 - 221 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nmat1581
Subject Categories: Surface and thin films | Computation, modelling and theory
Forced crumpling of self-avoiding elastic sheets
G. A. Vliegenthart and G. Gompper
Abstract
Thin elastic sheets are important materials across length scales ranging from mesoscopic (polymerized membranes, clay platelets, virus capsids) to macroscopic (paper, metal foils). The crumpling of such sheets by external forces is characterized by the formation of a complex pattern of folds. We have investigated the role of self-avoidance, the fact that the sheets cannot self-intersect, for the crumpling process by large-scale computer simulations. At moderate compression, the force–compression relations of crumpled sheets for both self-avoiding and phantom sheets are found to obey universal power-law behaviours. However, self-avoiding sheets are much stiffer than phantom sheets and, for a given compression, develop many more folds. Moreover, self-avoidance is relevant already at very small volume fractions. The fold-length distribution for crumpled sheets is determined, and is found to be well-described by a log-normal distribution. The stiffening owing to self-avoidance is reflected in the changing nature of the sheet-to-sheet contacts from line-like to two-dimensionally extended with increasing compression.
- Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
Correspondence to: G. A. Vliegenthart e-mail: g.vliegenthart@fz-juelich.de
Correspondence to: G. Gompper e-mail: g.gompper@fz-juelich.de
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Patterns of stress in crumpled sheetsNature News and Views (03 Apr 1997)
Materials science A broader view of membranesNature News and Views (29 Nov 2001)
See all 6 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Supplementary InformationNature Materials Letter (01 Jan 2009)
Dynamics of singularities in a constrained elastic plateNature Letters to Editor (12 Oct 2000)
See all 17 matches for Research
