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Thin films

Wrinkling of an elastic sheet under tension

Abstract

Here we consider the wrinkling of a stretched, slender elastic sheet and derive scaling laws for the wrinkle wavelength and amplitude that are valid far from the onset of buckling. Our results, which can be generalized to stretched and sheared anisotropic and inelastic sheets, could form the basis of a sensitive assay for the mechanical characterization of thin solid films.

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Figure 1: Wrinkles in a polyethylene sheet.

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Correspondence to E. Cerda.

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Cerda, E., Ravi-Chandar, K. & Mahadevan, L. Wrinkling of an elastic sheet under tension. Nature 419, 579–580 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/419579b

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/419579b

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