Kinetic wrinkling of an elastic film on a viscoelastic substrate

A compressed elastic film on a compliant substrate can form wrinkles. On an elastic substrate, equilibrium and energetics set the critical condition and select the wrinkle wavelength and amplitude. On a viscous substrate, wrinkle grows over time and the kinetics selects the fastest growing wavelength. More generally, on a viscoelastic substrate, both energetics and kinetics play important roles in determining the critical condition, the growth rate, and the wavelength. This paper studies the wrinkling process of an elastic film on a viscoelastic layer, which in turn lies on a rigid substrate. The film is elastic and modeled by the nonlinear von Karman plate theory. The substrate is linear viscoelastic with a relaxation modulus typical of a cross-linked polymer. Beyond a critical stress, the film wrinkles by the out-of-plane displacement but remains bonded to the substrate. This study considers plane strain wrinkling and neglects the in-plane displacement. A classification of the wrinkling behavior is made based on the critical conditions at the elastic limits, the glassy and rubbery states of the viscoelastic substrate. Linear perturbation analyses are conducted to reveal the kinetics of wrinkling in films subjected to intermediate and large compressive stresses. It is shown that, depending on the stress level, the growth of wrinkles at the initial stage can be exponential, accelerating, linear, or decelerating. In all cases, the wrinkle amplitude saturates at an equilibrium state after a long time. Subsequently, both amplitude and wavelength of the wrinkle evolve, but the process is kinetically constrained and slow compared to the initial growth.     

Effect of elastic anisotropy on surface pattern evolution of epitaxial thin films

Stress-induced surface instability and evolution of epitaxial thin films leads to formation of a variety of self-assembled surface patterns with feature sizes at micro- and nanoscales. The anisotropy in both the surface and bulk properties of the film and substrate has profound effects on the nonlinear dynamics of surface evolution and pattern formation. Experimentally it has been demonstrated that the effect of anisotropy strongly depends on the crystal orientation of the substrate surface on which the film grows epitaxially. In this paper we develop a nonlinear model for surface evolution of epitaxial thin films on generally anisotropic crystal substrates. Specifically, the effect of bulk elastic anisotropy of the substrate on epitaxial surface pattern evolution is investigated for cubic germanium (Ge) and SiGe films on silicon (Si) substrates with four different surface orientations: Si(0 0 1), Si(1 1 1), Si(1 1 0), and Si(1 1 3). Both linear analysis and nonlinear numerical simulations suggest that, with surface anisotropy neglected, ordered surface patterns form under the influence of the elastic anisotropy, and these surface patterns clearly reflect the symmetry of the underlying crystal structures of the substrate. It is concluded that consideration of anisotropic elasticity reveals a much richer dynamics of surface pattern evolution as compared to isotropic models.     

Swell-induced surface instability of hydrogel layers with material properties varying in thickness direction

Upon swelling in a solvent, a thin hydrogel layer on a rigid substrate may become unstable, developing various surface patterns. Recent experimental studies have explored the possibilities to generate controllable surface patterns by chemically modifying the molecular structures of the hydrogel near the surface. In this paper, we present a theoretical stability analysis for swelling of hydrogel layers with material properties varying in the thickness direction. As a specialization of the general procedure, hydrogel bilayers with different combinations of the material properties are examined in details. For a soft-on-hard bilayer, the onset of surface instability is determined by the short-wave limit, similar to a homogeneous layer. In contrast, for a hard-on-soft bilayer, a long-wave mode with a finite wavelength emerges as the critical mode at the onset of surface instability, similar to wrinkling of an elastic thin film on a compliant substrate, and the critical swelling ratio is much lower than that for a homogeneous hydrogel layer. A smooth transition of the critical mode is predicted as the volume fraction of the top layer changes, linking surface instability of a homogeneous layer to thin film wrinkling as two limiting cases. The results from the present study suggest that both the critical condition and the instability mode depend sensitively on the variation of the material properties in the thickness direction of the hydrogel layer.     

Wrinkling of a charged elastic film on a viscous layer

A thin metallic film deposited on a compliant polymeric substrate begins to wrinkle under compression induced in curing process and afterwards cooling of the system. The wrinkle mode depends upon the thin film elasticity, thickness, compressive strain, as well as mechanical properties of the compliant substrate. This paper presents a simple model to study the modulation of the wrinkle mode of thin metallic films bonded on viscous layers in external electric field. During the procedure, linear perturbation analysis was performed for determining the characteristic relation that governs the evolution of the plane-strain wrinkle of the thin films under varying conditions, i.e., the maximally unstable wrinkle mode as a function of the film surface charge, film elasticity and thickness, misfit strain, as well as thickness and viscosity of the viscous layer. It shows that, in proper electric field, thin film may wrinkle subjected to either compression or tension. Therefore, external electric field can be employed to modulate the wrinkle mode of thin films. The present results can be used as the theoretical basis for wrinkling analysis and mode modulation in surface metallic coatings, drying adhesives and paints, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), etc.     

Buckling and postbuckling of a compressed thin film bonded on a soft elastic layer: a three-dimensional analysis

The wrinkling of a stiff thin film bonded on a soft elastic layer and subjected to an applied or residual compressive stress is investigated in the present paper. A three-dimensional theoretical model is presented to predict the buckling and postbuckling behavior of the film. We obtained the analytical solutions for the critical buckling condition and the postbuckling morphology of the film. The effects of the thicknesses and elastic properties of the film and the soft layer on the characteristic wrinkling wavelength are examined. It is found that the critical wrinkling condition of the thin film is sensitive to the compressibility and thickness of the soft layer, and its wrinkling amplitude depends on the magnitude of the applied or residual in-plane stress. The bonding condition between the soft layer and the rigid substrate has a considerable influence on the buckling of the thin film, and the relative sliding at the interface tends to destabilize the system.     

Stretch-induced wrinkling of polyethylene thin sheets: Experiments and modeling

This paper presents a study on stretch-induced wrinkling of thin polyethylene sheets when subjected to uniaxial stretch with two clamped ends. Three-dimensional digital image correlation was used to measure the wrinkling deformation. It was observed that the wrinkle amplitude increased as the nominal strain increased up to around 10%, but then decreased at larger strain levels. This behavior is consistent with results of finite element simulations for a hyperelastic thin sheet reported previously (Nayyar et al., 2011). However, wrinkles in the polyethylene sheet were not fully flattened out at large strains (>30%) as predicted for the hyperelastic sheet, but exhibited a residual wrinkle whose amplitude depended on the loading rate. This is attributed to the viscoelastic response of the material. Two different viscoelastic models were adopted in finite element simulations to study the effects of viscoelasticity on wrinkling and to improve the agreement with the experiments, including residual wrinkles and rate dependence. It is found that a parallel network model of nonlinear viscoelasticity is suitable for simulating the constitutive behavior and stretch-induced wrinkling of the polyethylene sheets.     

形状记忆聚合物表面弹性薄膜的屈曲研究1)

形状记忆聚合物具有形状变化后在特定条件下可恢复的特点,因此作为一种柔性基底材料在柔性电子中得到广泛应用。对于形状记忆聚合物基底和弹性薄膜组成的双层结构,当 基底收缩时,其表面的弹性薄膜可以形成屈曲波形。针对基底收缩过程中波形的变化, 本文实验测得形状记忆聚合物材料在不同温度下的 属性,结合一维应变恢复函数,利用柔性基底表面薄膜屈曲波形参数(波幅、波长等)表达式,求解得到了在基底收缩的过程中,弹性薄膜屈曲波形的变化规律,和实验结果吻合很好。     

超弹性薄膜与可压缩基底双层结构表面失稳分析

当上层超弹性硬质薄膜和下层可膨胀基底构成的双层结构受压时,薄膜的自由表面可通过形成褶皱降低系统能量.研究表明,上下两层的模量比不同时,上层弹性硬质薄膜将表现出不同的表面失稳模式.本文提出了一种新颖的方法可有效抑制双层软材料的表面失稳,即改变基底材料的泊松比,这种方法同时适用于不具有应变硬化的软材料.首先基于Neo-Hookean模型发展了小变形条件下双层结构表面失稳的理论模型,通过半解析的方法得到了表面失稳的临界应变;然后通过有限元计算与模拟,进一步验证了负泊松比基底可延缓表面失稳.结果表明:(1)当双层结构基底泊松比为正且趋于0.5(不可压缩)时,双层结构在较小的压缩应变下出现表面失稳;(2)当基底的泊松比为负且趋于-1时,可被压缩至46%而不出现表面失稳,即可膨胀基底能有效抑制薄膜的表面失稳.本文发展的方法及主要结果可为延展性电子器件的设计提供指导.     

基底上薄膜结构的非线性屈曲力学进展

基底上薄膜结构中的过大残余压应力常常通过屈曲不稳定性诱发薄膜结构和功能的失效.屈曲不稳定性、演化与斑图形成是近年来非线性力学研究的热点.此类屈曲不稳定性受薄膜基底的力学性质以及界面相互作用影响,进而呈现出复杂的屈曲模式如褶皱、翘曲和折痕等.论文简要综述褶皱、翘曲和折痕等屈曲模式的形成机制、影响因素和后屈曲形貌相关方面的进展.褶皱部分,重点介绍了褶皱的形成、多级褶皱结构、局域化的褶皱、各向异性褶皱和曲面上的褶皱.翘曲部分,介绍了翘曲结构包括一维翘曲结构、“电话线”屈曲泡、网络状屈曲泡等的形成与生长过程,并讨论了曲面几何、界面滑移、开裂等因素的影响.折痕及其它复杂屈曲模式部分,介绍了折痕、叠痕及隆起失稳的形成机制与临界条件.     

Effects of tension–compression asymmetry on the surface wrinkling of film–substrate systems

Many soft materials and biological tissues are featured with the tension–compression asymmetry of constitutive relations. The surface wrinkling of a stiff thin film lying on a compliant substrate is investigated through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. It is found that the tension–compression asymmetry of the soft substrate not only affects the critical strain of buckling but, more importantly, may also influence the wrinkling pattern that occurs in the film–substrate system under specified loading conditions. Due to this mechanism, the thin film subjected to equi-biaxial compression may first buckle into a hexagonal array of dimples or bulges, instead of the checkerboard pattern, and consequently evolve into labyrinths with further loading. Under non-equi-biaxial compression, the system may buckle either into a parallel bead-chain pattern or a stripe pattern, depending on the substrate nonlinearity and the loading biaxiality. Phase diagrams are established for the wrinkling patterns in a wide range of geometric and mechanical parameters, which facilitate the design of surface patterns with desired properties and functions.     

Buckling and post-buckling of a stiff film resting on an elastic graded substrate

Systems consisting of a hard layer resting on an elastic graded soft substrate are frequently encountered both in nature and industry. In this paper, we study the surface wrinkling problem of such a composite system subjected to in-plane compression. The Young’s modulus of the elastic substrate is assumed to vary along its depth direction. In particular, we investigate two typical variations in the modulus, described by a power function and an exponential function, respectively. Analytical solutions which permit to determine the critical compressive strain for the onset of wrinkling and the wrinkling wavelength are derived. A series of finite element simulations are performed to validate the theoretical solutions and demonstrate the prominent features of the postbuckling evolution of the system. The results may not only find applications in thin-film metrology and surface patterning but also provide insight into the wrinkling phenomena of various living tissues.     

Surface wrinkling of mucosa induced by volumetric growth: Theory, simulation and experiment

Mechanics of living tissues focusing on the relationships between growth, morphology and function is not only of theoretical interest but can also be useful for diagnosis of certain diseases. In this paper, we model the surface wrinkling morphology of mucosa, the moist tissue that commonly lines organs and cavities throughout the body, induced by either physiological or pathological volumetric growth. A theoretical framework of finite deformation is adopted to analyze the deformation of a cylindrical cavity covered by mucosal and submucosal layers. It is shown that compressive residual stresses induced by the confined growth of mucosa can destabilize the tissue into various surface wrinkling patterns. A linear stability analysis of the critical condition and characteristic buckling patterns indicates that the wrinkling mode is sensitive to the thicknesses of the mucosal and submucosal layers, as well as the properties of the tissues. The thinner the mucosal layer and the lower its elastic modulus, the shorter the buckling wavelength. A series of finite element simulations are performed to validate the theoretical predictions and to study local wrinkling or non-uniform patterns associated with inhomogeneous growth. Our postbuckling analysis shows that the surface pattern may evolve towards a period-doubling morphology due to continuous growth of mucosa or submucosa beyond the critical state. Finally, the theoretical predictions and numerical simulations are compared to experimental observations.     

Spinodal surface instability of soft elastic thin films

When the thicknesses of thin films reduce to microns or even nanometers, surface energy and surface interaction often play a significant role in their deformation behavior and surface morphology. The spinodal surface instability induced by the van der Waals force in a soft elastic thin film perfectly bonded to a rigid substrate is investigated theoretically using the bifurcation theory of elastic structures. The analytical solution is derived for the critical condition of spinodal surface morphology instability by accounting for the competition of the van der Waals interaction energy, elastic strain energy and surface energy. Detailed examinations on the effect of surface energy, thickness and elastic properties of the film show that the characteristic wavelength of the deformation bifurcation mode depends on the film thickness via an exponential relation, with the power index in the range from 0.749 to 1.0. The theoretical solution has a good agreement with relevant experiment results.     

On the modelling of anisotropic material behaviour in viscoplasticity

A uniaxial viscoplastic deformation is motivated as a discrete sequence of stable and unstable equilibrium states and approximated by a smooth family of stable states of equilibrium depending on the history of the mechanical process. Three-dimensional crystal viscoplasticity starts from the assumption that inelastic shearings take place on slip systems, which are known from the particular geometric structure of the crystal. A constitutive model for the behaviour of a single crystal is developed, based on a free energy, which decomposes into an elastic and an inelastic part. The elastic part, the isothermal strain energy, depends on the elastic Green strain and allows for the initial anisotropy, known from the special type of the crystal lattice. Additionally, the strain energy function contains an orthogonal tensor-valued internal variable representing the orientation of the anisotropy axes. This orientation develops according to an evolution equation, which satisfies the postulate of full invariance in the sense that it is an observer-invariant relation. The inelastic part of the free energy is a quadratic function of the integrated shear rates and corresponding internal variables being equivalent to backstresses in order to consider kinematic hardening phenomena on the slip system level. The evolution equations for the shears, backstresses and crystallographic orientations are thermomechanically consistent in the sense that they are compatible with the entropy inequality. While the general theory applies to all types of lattices, specific test calculations refer to cubic symmetry (fcc) and small elastic strains. The simulations of simple tension and compression processes of a single crystal illustrates the development of the crystallographic axes according to the proposed evolution equation. In order to simulate the behaviour of a polycrystal the initial orientations of the anisotropy axes are assumed to be space-dependent but piecewise constant, where each region of a constant orientation corresponds to a grain. The results of the calculation show that the initially isotropic distribution of the orientation changes in a physically reasonable manner and that the intensity of this process-induced texture depends on the specific choice of the material constants.     

Deformability of thin metal films on elastomer substrates

Recent applications in flexible electronics require that thin metal films grown on elastomer substrates be deformable. However, how such laminates deform is poorly understood. While a freestanding metal film subject to tension will rupture at a small strain by undergoing a necking instability, we anticipate that a substrate will retard this instability to an extent that depends on the relative stiffness and thickness of the film and the substrate. Using a combination of a bifurcation analysis and finite element simulations, we identify three modes of tensile deformation. On a compliant elastomer, a metal film forms a neck and ruptures at a small strain close to that of a freestanding film. On a stiff elastomer, the metal film deforms uniformly to large strains. On an elastomer of intermediate compliance, the metal film forms multiple necks, deforms much beyond the initial bifurcation, and ruptures at a large strain. Our theoretical predictions call for new experiments.     

Analytical study of wrinkling in thin-film-on-elastomer system with finite substrate thickness

Surface wrinkling, a film bonded on a pre-strained elastomeric substrate can form periodic wrinkling patterns, is a common phenomenon in daily life. In existing theoretical models, the film is much thinner than the substrate so that the substrate can be considered to be elastomeric with infinite thickness. In this paper, the effect of finite substrate thickness is analyzed theoretically for free boundary condition cases. Based on the minimum potential energy principle, a theoretical model is established, and the wave length and amplitude of the wrinkling pattern are obtained. When the thickness of the substrate is more than 200 times larger than the thickness of the film, the results of this study agree well with the results obtained from the previous models for infinite substrate thickness. However, for thin substrates, the effect of finite substrate thickness becomes significant. The model given in this paper accurately describes the effect of finite substrate thickness, providing important design guidelines for future thin-film-on-substrate systems such as stretchable electronic devices.     

Stretch-induced stress patterns and wrinkles in hyperelastic thin sheets

Wrinkles are commonly observed in stretched thin sheets and membranes. This paper presents a numerical study on stretch-induced wrinkling of hyperelastic thin sheets based on nonlinear finite element analyses. The model problem is set up for uniaxial stretching of a rectangular sheet with two clamped ends and two free edges. A two-dimensional stress analysis is performed first under the plane-stress condition to determine stretch-induced stress distribution patterns in the elastic sheets, assuming no wrinkles. As a prerequisite for wrinkling, development of compressive stresses in the transverse direction is found to depend on both the length-to-width aspect ratio of the sheet and the applied tensile strain in the longitudinal direction. A phase diagram is constructed with four different distribution patterns of the stretch-induced compressive stresses, spanning a wide range of aspect ratio and tensile strain. Next, an eigenvalue analysis is performed to find the potential buckling modes of the elastic sheet under the prescribed boundary conditions. Finally, a nonlinear post-buckling analysis is performed to show evolution of stretch-induced wrinkles. In addition to the aspect ratio and tensile strain, it is found that the critical condition for wrinkling and the post-buckling behavior both depend sensitively on the sheet thickness. In general, wrinkles form only when both the magnitude and the distribution area of the compressive stresses are sufficiently large. The wrinkle wavelength decreases with increasing strain, in good agreement with the prediction by a scaling analysis. However, as the tensile strain increases, the wrinkle amplitude first increases and then decreases, eventually flattened beyond a moderately large critical strain, in contrast to the scaling analysis.     

Nonlinear analysis of compressed elastic thin films on elastic substrates: From wrinkling to buckle-delamination

Nonlinear buckling of elastic thin films on compliant substrates is studied by modeling and simulations to reveal the roles of pre-strain, elastic modulus ratio, and interfacial properties in morphological transition from wrinkles to buckle-delamination blisters. The model integrates an interfacial cohesive zone model with the Föppl–von Kármán plate theory and Green function method within the general framework of energy minimization. A kinetics approach is developed for numerical simulations. Subject to a uniaxial pre-strain, the numerical simulations confirm the analytically predicted critical conditions for onset of wrinkling and wrinkle-induced delamination, with which a phase diagram is constructed. It is found that, with increasing pre-strain, the equilibrium configuration evolves from flat to wrinkles, to concomitant wrinkles and buckle-delamination, and to an array of parallel straight blisters. The height and width of the buckle-delamination blisters can be approximately described by a set of scaling laws with respect to the pre-strain and interfacial toughness. Subject to an equi-biaxial pre-strain, the critical conditions are determined numerically to construct a similar phase diagram for the buckling modes. Moreover, by varying the pre-strain, modulus ratio, and interfacial toughness, a rich variety of equilibrium configurations are simulated, including straight blisters, and network blisters with or without wrinkles. These results provide considerable insight into diverse surface patterns in layered material systems as a result of the mechanical interactions between the film and the substrate through their interface, which suggests potential control parameters for designing specific surface patterns.     

网链缠结对凝胶薄膜起皱的影响

凝胶薄膜在变形时易发生屈曲、起皱等失稳现象,这在凝胶薄膜的应用中是非常重要的．近年来,针对凝胶薄膜的屈曲、起皱失稳行为,越来越多的科研人员尝试从力学角度进行分析．但是大多数的研究是基于Flory-Rehner弹性凝胶理论,未考虑凝胶网链缠结引起的物理交联对凝胶自由能的影响,模型精度不高．本文采用Edwards-Vilgis所提出的Slip-link模型对平面内起皱的凝胶薄膜进行分析,研究了不伸展参数、滑移参数对聚合物凝胶增量模量的影响以及不伸展参数、滑移参数、基底材料泊松比对凝胶薄膜起皱时的临界波长和临界应力的影响．结果表明：化学势在一定范围内变化时,随着化学势的增加,增量模量、临界波长、临界应力减小;不可伸长参数越大,增量模量、临界波长及临界应力越大;滑移参数越大,增量模量、临界波长及临界应力越小．     

A rheological theory for liquid crystal thin films

A macroscopic rheological theory for compressible isothermal nematic liquid crystal films is developed and used to characterize the interfacial elastic, viscous, and viscoelastic material properties. The derived expression for the film stress tensor includes elastic and viscous components. The asymmetric film viscous stress tensor takes into account the nematic ordering and is given in terms of the film rate of deformation and the surface Jaumann derivative. The material function that describes the anisotropic viscoelasticity is the dynamic film tension, which includes the film tension and dilational viscosities. Viscous dissipation due to film compressibility is described by the anisotropic dilational viscosity. Three characteristic film shear viscosities are defined according to whether the nematic orientation is along the velocity direction, the velocity gradient, or the unit normal. In addition the dependence of the rheological functions on curvature and film thickness has been identified. The rheological theory provides a theoretical framework to future studies of thin liquid crystal film stability and hydrodynamics, and liquid crystal foam rheology. Received: 9 October 2000 Accepted: 6 April 2001