Crumpling an elasto-plastic thin sphere

TL;DR

This paper investigates how crumpling behavior differs between flat thin sheets and curved thin spheres, using experiments and simulations to reveal unique properties of curved crumpled objects.

Contribution

It introduces the study of crumpling in elasto-plastic thin spheres, highlighting differences from flat sheets through experimental and simulation analysis.

Findings

Curved thin spheres exhibit distinct crumpling mechanics from flat sheets.

Nonzero intrinsic curvature significantly affects pressure-density relations.

Crumpling of spheres shows different crackling noise patterns compared to flat sheets.

Abstract

The phenomenon of crumpling is common in our daily life and nature. It exhibits many interesting properties, such as ultra-tough resistance to pressure with less than 30$\%$ of volume density, power-law relation for pressure vs density, and crackling noises with occurrence frequency vs intensity mimicking that of earthquakes. These results are mainly obtained by using flat thin sheets. But, in reality the majority of crumpled objects exhibit nonzero intrinsic curvatures. Notable examples are crushed aluminum cans, car wreckage, and cells move in and out of blood vessels. In this work we concentrate on establishing the fact that they behave very differently from flat sheets by employing both experiments and molecular dynamics simulations.