Issue 34, 2013

Spiral tearing of thin films

Abstract

Controlling the fracture propagation in a film is an important element in the design of better packaging seals that must resist handling and yet provide a tearing mechanism for easy opening. Here we show that under simple initial setup conditions a divergent tear can be obtained that follows the path of a logarithmic spiral over two decades in length scale. We study the general rules leading to the “spiral growth” of a tear and connect its geometry to the specific material properties of the film.

Graphical abstract: Spiral tearing of thin films

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Feb 2013
Accepted
03 May 2013
First published
19 Jun 2013

Soft Matter, 2013,9, 8282-8288

Spiral tearing of thin films

V. Romero, B. Roman, E. Hamm and E. Cerda, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 8282 DOI: 10.1039/C3SM50564B

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