Contact instabilities of anisotropic and inhomogeneous soft elastic films

Tomar, Gaurav and Sharma, Ashutosh (2012) Contact instabilities of anisotropic and inhomogeneous soft elastic films. In: Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear and Soft Matter Physics, 85 (2, Par).

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Abstract

Anisotropy plays important roles in various biological phenomena such as adhesion of geckos and grasshoppers enabled by the attachment pods having hierarchical structures like thin longitudinal setae connected with threads mimicked by anisotropic films. We study the contact instability of a transversely isotropic thin elastic film when it comes in contact proximity of another surface. In the present study we investigate the contact stability of a thin incompressible transversely isotropic film by performing linear stability analysis. Based on the linear stability analysis, we show that an approaching contactor renders the film unstable. The critical wavelength of the instability is a function of the total film thickness and the ratio of the Young's modulus in the longitudinal direction and the shear modulus in the plane containing the longitudinal axis. We also analyze the stability of a thin gradient film that is elastically inhomogeneous across its thickness. Compared to a homogeneous elastic film, it becomes unstable with a longer wavelength when the film becomes softer in going from the surface to the substrate.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear and Soft Matter Physics
Publisher:	The American Physical Society
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to The American Physical Society.
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Mechanical Engineering
Date Deposited:	13 Mar 2012 11:00
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2012 11:00
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/43827

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