Surface instability of an elastic half space with material properties varying with depth

If a body with a stiffer surface layer is loaded in compression, a surface wrinkling instability may be developed. A bifurcation analysis is presented for determining the critical load for the onset of wrinkling and the associated wavelength for materials in which the elastic modulus is an arbitrary function of depth. The analysis leads to an eigenvalue problem involving a pair of linear ordinary differential equations with variable coefficients which are discretized and solved using the finite element method.The method is validated by comparison with classical results for a uniform layer on a dissimilar substrate. Results are then given for materials with exponential and error-function gradation of elastic modulus and for a homogeneous body with thermoelastically induced compressive stresses.     

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.     

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。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Mechanics of indentation for piezoelectric thin films on elastic substrate

Frictionless normal indentation problem of rigid flat-ended cylindrical, conical and spherical indenters on piezoelectric film, which is either in frictionless contact with or perfectly bonded to an elastic half-space (substrate), is investigated. Both conducting and insulating indenters are considered. With Hankel transform, the general solutions of the homogeneous governing equations for the piezoelectric layer and the elastic half-space are presented. Using the boundary conditions for a vertical point force or a point electric charge, and the boundary conditions on the film/substrate interface, the Green’s functions can be obtained by solving sets of simultaneous linear algebraic equations. The solution of the indentation problem is obtained by integrating these Green’s functions over the contact area with unknown surface tractions or electric charge distribution, which will be determined from the boundary conditions on the contact surface between the indenter and the film. The solution is expressed in terms of dual integral equations that are converted to a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind and solved numerically. Numerical examples are also presented. The comparison between two film/substrate bonding conditions is made. It shows that the indentation rigidity of the film/substrate system is lower when the film is in frictionless contact with the substrate. The effects of the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the elastic substrate, indenter electrical condition and indenter prescribed electric potential on the indentation responses are presented.     

Effective elastic modulus of film-on-substrate systems under normal and tangential contact

Load and depth sensing indentation methods have been widely used to characterize the mechanical properties of the thin film-substrate systems. The measurement accuracy critically depends on our knowledge of the effective elastic modulus of this heterogeneous system. In this work, based on the exact solution of the Green's function in Fourier space, we have derived an analytical relationship between the surface tractions and displacements, which depends on the ratio of the film thickness to contact size and the generalized Dundurs parameters that describe the modulus mismatch between the film and substrate materials. The use of the cumulative superposition method shows that the contact stiffness of any axisymmetric contact is the same as that of a flat-ended punch contact. Therefore, assuming a surface traction of the form of [1−(r/a)²]^−1/2 with radial coordinate r and contact size a, we can obtain an approximate representation of the effective elastic moduli, which agree extremely well with the finite element simulations for both normal and tangential contacts. Motivated by a recently developed multidimensional nanocontact system, we also explore the dependence of the ratio of tangential to normal contact stiffness on the ratio of film thickness to contact radius and the Dundurs parameters. The analytical representations of the correction factors in the relationship between the contact stiffness and effective modulus are derived at infinite friction conditions.     

测量界面软铬层力学性质的纳米压入法

为了测量双层铬的界面软铬层力学性质,提出了化学腐蚀基体法,通过溶解掉基体制备没有基体支撑的自由铬层,将在横截面内线状显示的界面转化为界面表面(铬层与基体相连接的面),避免了横截面不能显示界面表面的缺点。对界面表面进行纳米压入实验和借助于表征薄膜力学性质的表面压入能量法,测得了描述界面软铬层力学性质的弹性模量和压入弹、塑性功等参数。     

From wrinkling to global buckling of a ring on a curved substrate

We present a combined analytical approach and numerical study on the stability of a ring bound to an annular elastic substrate, which contains a circular cavity. The system is loaded by depressurizing the inner cavity. The ring is modeled as an Euler–Bernoulli beam and its equilibrium equations are derived from the mechanical energy which takes into account both stretching and bending contributions. The curvature of the substrate is considered explicitly to model the work done by its reaction force on the ring. We distinguish two different instabilities: periodic wrinkling of the ring or global buckling of the structure. Our model provides an expression for the critical pressure, as well as a phase diagram that rationalizes the transition between instability modes. Towards assessing the role of curvature, we compare our results for the critical stress and the wrinkling wavelength to their planar counterparts. We show that the critical stress is insensitive to the curvature of the substrate, while the wavelength is only affected due to the permissible discrete values of the azimuthal wavenumber imposed by the geometry of the problem. Throughout, we contrast our analytical predictions against finite element simulations.     

ANALYSIS OF TWO DISSIMILAR FUNCTIONALLY GRADED STRIPS CONTAINING INTERFACE CRACK UNDER PLANE DEFORMATION

In this paper the plane elasticity problem of two bonded dissimilar functionally graded strips containing an interface crack is studied.The governing equation in terms of Airy stress function is formulated and exact solutions are obtained for several special variations of material properties in Fourier transformation domain.The mixed boundary problem is reduced to a system of singular integral equations that are solved numerically.Numerical results show that fracture toughness of materials can be greatly improved by graded variation of elastic modulus and the influence of the specific form of elastic modulus on the fracture behavior of FGM is limited.     

Elastic analysis of some punch problems for a layered medium

The problems of flat-ended cylindrical, quadrilateral, and triangular punches indenting a layered isotropic elastic half-space are considered. The former two are analyzed using a basis function technique, while the latter problem is analyzed via a singular integral equation. Solutions are obtained numerically. Load-deflection relations are obtained for a series of values of the ratio of Young's modulus in the layer and substrate, and for a variety of punch sizes. These solutions provide an accurate basis for the estimation of Young's modulus of thin films from the initial unloading compliance observed in indentation tests, and are specifically relevant to axisymmetric, Vicker's, and triangular indenters. The results should also be of interest in foundation engineering.     

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.     

A comparative analysis of numerical approaches to the mechanics of elastic sheets

Numerically simulating deformations in thin elastic sheets is a challenging problem in computational mechanics due to destabilizing compressive stresses that result in wrinkling. Determining the location, structure, and evolution of wrinkles in these problems has important implications in design and is an area of increasing interest in the fields of physics and engineering. In this work, several numerical approaches previously proposed to model equilibrium deformations in thin elastic sheets are compared. These include standard finite element-based static post-buckling approaches as well as a recently proposed method based on dynamic relaxation, which are applied to the problem of an annular sheet with opposed tractions where wrinkling is a key feature. Numerical solutions are compared to analytic predictions of the ground state, enabling a quantitative evaluation of the predictive power of the various methods. Results indicate that static finite element approaches produce local minima that are highly sensitive to initial imperfections, relying on a priori knowledge of the equilibrium wrinkling pattern to generate optimal results. In contrast, dynamic relaxation is much less sensitive to initial imperfections and can generate low-energy solutions for a wide variety of loading conditions without requiring knowledge of the equilibrium solution beforehand.     

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.     

基于不同板理论的嵌于柔性层中薄膜的皱曲分析

论文对于柔性层-薄膜-柔性层三层结构系统,基于经典板理论、一阶剪切变形理论和高阶剪切变形理论,分别推导给出薄膜皱曲的控制方程.对于两个柔性层,则把它们处理成具有有限厚度的平面应变弹性体.针对上下柔性层固支边界或自由边界条件,利用线性扰动方法得到柔性层对薄膜的横向压力差,最终获得确定薄膜具有周期性正弦型皱曲的临界载荷方程...     

Response of an elastic half-space with power-law nonhomogeneity to static loads

In this paper a series of problems for an isotropic elastic half-space with power-law nonhomogeneity are considered. The action of surface vertical and horizontal forces applied to the half-space is studied. A part of the paper deals with the case of zero-valued surface shear modulus (for positive values of the power determining the nonhomogeneity). This condition leads to simple solutions for two-dimensional (2D) case when radial distribution of stresses exists for surface loads concentrated along an infinite line. Corresponding results for the three-dimensional (3D) case are constructed on the basis of the relationships between 2D and 3D solutions developed in the paper. A more complicated case, in which the shear modulus at the surface of the half-space differs from zero, is treated using fundamental solutions of the differential equations for Fourier–Bessel transformations of displacements. In the paper the fundamental solutions are built in the following two forms: (a) a combination of functions expressing displacements of the half-space under the action of vertical and horizontal forces in the case of zero surface shear modulus, and (b) a representation of the fundamental solutions using confluent hypergeometric functions. The results of numerical calculation given in the paper relate to Green functions for the surface vertical and horizontal point forces.     

Static wetting on flexible substrates: a finite element formulation

In static wetting on an elastic substrate, force exerted by the liquid–vapour surface tension on a solid surface deforms the substrate, producing a capillary ridge along the contact line. This paper presents a finite element formulation for predicting elastic deformation, close to the static wetting line (with angle of contact=90o and σSV=σSL).The substrate deformation is modelled with the Mooney–Rivlin constitutive law for incompressible rubber‐like solids. At the contact line, a stress singularity is known to arise, due to the surface tension acting on a line of infinitesimal thickness. To relive the stress singularity, either (i) the surface tension is applied over a finite contact region (of macroscopic thickness), or (ii) the solid crease angle is fixed. These two options suggest that normal component of Neumann's triangle law of forces, for the three surface tensions, is not applicable for elastic substrates (as for rigid ones). The vertical displacement of the contact line is a strong function of liquid/vapour surface tension and shear modulus of the solid. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wrinkle patterns of anisotropic crystal films on viscoelastic substrates

This paper presents a nonlinear mathematical model for evolution of wrinkle patterns of an anisotropic crystal film on a viscoelastic substrate layer. The underlying mechanism of wrinkling has been generally understood as a stress-driven instability. Previously, theoretical studies on wrinkling have assumed isotropic elastic properties for the film. Motivated by recent experimental observations of ordered wrinkle patterns in single-crystal thin films, this paper develops a theoretical model coupling anisotropic elastic deformation of a crystal film with viscoelastic deformation of a thin substrate layer. A linear perturbation analysis is performed to predict the onset of wrinkling instability and the initial evolution kinetics. An energy minimization method is adopted to analyze wrinkle patterns in the equilibrium states. For a cubic crystal film under an equi-biaxial compression, orthogonally ordered wrinkle patterns are predicted in both the initial stage and the equilibrium state. This is confirmed by numerical simulations of evolving wrinkle patterns. By varying the residual stresses in the film, numerical simulations show that a variety of wrinkle patterns (e.g., orthogonal, parallel, zigzag, and checkerboard patterns) emerge as a result of the competition between material anisotropy and stress anisotropy.