Controlled buckling of thin film on elastomeric substrate in large deformation

Electronic systems with large stretchability have many applications. A precisely controlled buckling strategy to increase the stretchability has been demonstrated by combining lithographically patterned surface bonding chemistry and a buckling process. The buckled geometry was assumed to have a sinusoidal form, which may result in errors to determine the strains in the film. A theoretical model is presented in this letter to study the mechanics of this type of thin film/substrate system by discarding the assumption of sinusoidal buckling geometry. It is shown that the previous model overestimates the deflection and curvature in the thin film. The results from the model agree well with finite element simulations and therefore provide design guidelines in many applications ranging from stretchable electronics to micro/nano scale surface patterning and precision metrology.     

A simplified analysis on buckling of stressed and pressurized thin films on substrates

This paper is concerned with effect of mismatched pressure on buckling of stressed thin films on a semi-infinite rigid substrate. Analytical approximate solutions are established in explicit form by using total potential energy of the system and the Rayleigh–Ritz’s method, and their stabilities have also been determined. The dependences of the critical stress and film-center deflection on the mismatched pressure have been formulated. Results are compared with exact or numerical shooting solutions, and excellent agreements are observed for a large range of film-center deflection. These expressions are brief and can easily be used to derive the effects of various parameters on mechanical behavior of films.     

The characterization of telephone cord buckling of compressed thin films on substrates

The topology of the telephone cord buckling of compressed diamond-like carbon films (DLC) on glass substrates has been characterized with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and with the focused ion beam (FIB) imaging system. The profiles of the several buckles have been measured by AFM to establish the symmetry of each repeat unit, revealing similarity with a circular buckle pinned at its center. By making parallel cuts through the buckle in small, defined locations, straight-sided buckles have been created on the identical films, enabling the residual stress in the film to be determined from the profile.It has been shown that the telephone cord topology can be effectively modeled as a series of pinned circular buckles along its length, with an unpinned circular buckle at its front. The unit segment comprises a section of a full circular buckle, pinned to the substrate at its center. The model is validated by comparing radial profiles measured for the telephone cord with those calculated for the pinned buckle, upon using the residual stress in the film, determined as above. Once validated, the model has been used to determine the energy release rate and mode mixity, G(ψ).The results for G(ψ) indicate that the telephone cord configuration is preferred when the residual stress in the DLC is large, consistent with observations that straight-sided buckles are rarely observed, and, when they occur, are generally narrower than telephone cords. Telephone cords are observed in many systems, and can be regarded as the generic morphology. Nevertheless, they exist subject to a limited set of conditions, residing within the margin between complete adherence and complete delamination, provided that the interface has a mode II toughness low enough to ensure that the buckle crack does not kink into the substrate.     

The Mexican hat effect on the delamination buckling of a compressed thin film

Because of the interaction between film and substrate,the film buckling stress can vary significantly,depending on the delamination geometry,the film and substrate mechanical properties.The Mexican hat effect indicates such interaction.An analytical method is presented,and related dimensional analysis shows that a single dimensionless parameter can effectively evaluate the effect.     

Post-buckling analysis of a thin stiffened plate with uncertain initial deflection via interval analysis

The post-buckling behavior of the thin stiffened plates with uncertain initial deflection under uni-direction compression load is investigated based on Von-Karman large deflection theory. The uncertain initial deflections are considered to be unknown except that they belong to a given set in the interval range. Interval analysis model for computing the bounds of curves of the post-buckling deflection versus load of the plate is presented. Interval analysis model is compared with the stochastic model, which is taken as the benchmarks of accuracy for judgment. The results indicate that the non-probabilistic and stochastic methods will produce similar results for a large deviation of uncertainty. If the probabilistic information is unavailable, one should not propose the probabilistic method based on an arbitrary assumption on the distribution of the deflection coefficients. Rather, one should use the non-probabilistic method to uncertainty.     

Controlled wrinkling analysis of thin films on gradient substrates

The paper investigates continuously changing wrinkle patterns of thin films bonded to a gradient substrate. Three types of gradient substrates including exponential,power-law, and symmetry models are considered. The Galerkin method is used to discretize the governing equation of film bonded to gradient substrates. The wavelength and the normalized amplitude of the wrinkles for substrates of various material gradients are obtained. The numerical simulation based on the finite element method(FEM) is used to evolve the wrinkle patterns. The result agrees well with that of the analytical model.It is concluded that localization of wrinkle patterns strongly depends on the material gradient. The critical membrane force depends on both the minimum value of wrinkle stiffness and the gradient of wrinkle stiffness when the wrinkle stiffness is at its minimum.This work provides a better understanding for local wrinkle formation caused by gradient substrates.     

Spherical indentation analysis of stress relaxation for thin film viscoelastic materials

The mechanical testing of thin layers of soft materials is an important but difficult task. Spherical indentation provides a convenient method to ascertain material properties whilst minimising damage to the material by allowing testing to take place in situ. However, measurement of the viscoelastic properties of these soft materials is hindered by the absence of a convenient yet accurate model which takes into account the thickness of the material and the effects of the underlying substrate. To this end, the spherical indentation of a thin layer of viscoelastic solid material is analysed. It is assumed that the transient mechanical properties of the material can be described by the generalised standard linear solid model. This model is incorporated into the theory and then solved for the special case of a stress relaxation experiment taking into account the finite ramp time experienced in real experiments. An expression for the force as a function of the viscoelastic properties, layer thickness and indentation depth is given. The theory is then fitted to experimental data for the spherical indentation of poly(dimethyl)siloxane mixed with its curing agent to the ratios of 5:1, 10:1 and 20:1 in order to ascertain its transient shear moduli and relaxation time constants. It is shown that the theory correctly accounts for the effect of the underlying substrate and allows for the accurate measurement of the viscoelastic properties of thin layers of soft materials.     

A procedure of the method of reverberation ray matrix for the buckling analysis of a thin multi-span plate

A procedure of the method of reverberation ray matrix(MRRM) is developed to perform the buckling analysis of thin multi-span rectangular plates having internal line supports or stiffeners. A computation algorithm for the reverberation ray matrix in the MRRM is derived to determine the buckling loading. Specifically, the analytical solutions are presented for the buckling of the structure having two opposite simply-supported or clamped-supported edges with spans, while the constraint condition of...     

Variational principles of perforated thin plates and finite element method for buckling and post-buckling analysis

On the basis of the general theory of perforated thin plates under large deflections^{[1, 2]}, variational principles with deflectionw and stress functionF as variables are stated in detail. Based on these principles, finite element method is established for analysing the buckling and post-buckling of perforated thin plates. It is found that the property of element is very complicated, owing to the multiple connexity of the region. Project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Quantitative characterization of the interfacial adhesion of Ni thin film on steel substrate: A compression-induced buckling delamination test

A compression-induced buckling delamination test is employed to quantitatively characterize the interfacial adhesion of Ni thin film on steel substrate. It is shown that buckles initiate from edge flaws and surface morphologies exhibit symmetric, half-penny shapes. Taking the elastoplasticity of film and substrate into account, a three-dimensional finite element model for an edge flaw with the finite size is established to simulate the evolution of energy release rates and phase angles in the process of interfacial buckling-driven delamination. The results show that delamination propagates along both the straight side and curved front. The mode II delamination plays a dominant role in the process with a straight side whilst the curved front experiences almost the pure mode I. Based on the results of finite element analysis, a numerical model is developed to evaluate the interfacial energy release rate, which is in the range of 250–315 J/m² with the corresponding phase angle from −41° to −66°. These results are in agreement with the available values determined by other testing methods, which confirms the effectiveness of the numerical model.     

Two-dimensional analysis of progressive delamination in thin film electrodes

By employing the two-dimensional analysis, i.e., plane strain and plane stress, a semi-analytical method is developed to investigate the interfacial delamination in electrodes. The key parameters are obtained from the governing equations, and their effects on the evolution of the delamination are evaluated. The impact of constraint perpendicular to the plane is also investigated by comparing the plane strain and plane stress. It is found that the delamination in the plane strain condition occurs easier, indicating that the constraint is harmful to maintain the structure stability. According to the obtained governing equations, a formula of the dimensionless critical size for delamination is provided, which is a function of the maximum volumetric strain and the Poisson’s ratio of the active layer.     

A simple method for measuring local buckling of thin plates

A simple computer-interfaced optical system for measuring the dynamic-local-buckling deformation of thin-walled metal structural-plate elements is described in this paper with two sets of experimental results. The major advantage of this system is its simplicity and economy as well as its speedy automated process for data scanning, acquisition, and analyses by using a microcomputer.Paper was presented at the 1986 SEM Spring Conference on Experimental Mechanics held in New Orleans, LA on June 8–13.     

An accurate model for the thin film flow

This paper deals with the linear stability of a liquid film flowing down an inclined plane. The Navier-Stokes equations were reduced into four evolution equations that describe the development of the film depth, the flow rate, the free surface velocity, and the wall shear stress, using the Karman-Polhausen boundary layer integral method. Thus, we were able to determine the stability threshold and approach well the critical wave number for long waves. The obtained results were found to be in good agreement with the experiments of Liu et al.     

Multiple bifurcations in wrinkling analysis of thin films on compliant substrates

Wrinkling phenomena of stiff thin films on compliant substrates are investigated based on a non-linear finite element model. The resulting non-linear equations are then solved by the Asymptotic Numerical Method (ANM) that gives interactive access to semi-analytical equilibrium branches, which offers considerable advantage of reliability compared with classical iterative algorithms. Bifurcation points are detected through computing bifurcation indicators well adapted to the ANM. The effect of boundary conditions and material properties of the substrate on the bifurcation portrait is carefully studied. The evolution of wrinkling patterns and post-bifurcation modes including period-doubling has been observed beyond the onset of the primary sinusoidal wrinkling mode in the post-buckling range.     

Three-dimensional finite element analysis of thin films cracking along ceramic substrates

In the present work, three-dimensional finite element method is used to calculate the J integral and the size of plastic zone at the interfacial crack tip of ductile films bonded to a ceramic substrate in mode I. The effects of the specimen thickness and the crack length on the variation of the J integral and the size of the plastic zone at the crack tip were highlighted. The J integral and the plastic zones were computed in the surface and the middle of the film/substrate composite.     

On the problems of buckling of an annular thin plate

In this paper, problems of buckling of an annular thin plate under the action of in-plane pressure and transverse load are studied by using the method of multiple scales. We obtain N-order uniformly valid asymptotic expansion of the solution. In the latter part of this paper we discuss a particular example, and calculate the critical value of in-plane pressure. We see that the asymptotic expansion obtained by the multiple scales is completely consistent with that of the exact solution.     

On the timoshenko buckling load of thin walled cylindrical shells

Summary A technique is presented for simulating simply supported boundary conditions in axial cylinder buckling experiments. An internal mandrel is employed. The geometric and material constants of the mandrel can be carefully selected allowing it to expand, through a Poisson effect, at the same rate as the shell. The mandrel provides an expansion mechanism for the edges of the shell which allows the shell's generators to remain straight until buckling occurs. In addition, the mandrel can also be used to limit buckle deformations to the elastic region.