Andrew Croll, associate professor of physics, has published research titled “The compressive strength of crumpled matter” in Nature Communications. Timothy Twohig, doctoral graduate teaching assistant, and Theresa Elder, doctoral graduate research assistant, are listed as co-authors.
The paper, published April 3, describes how crumpling a sheet creates a stiff and lightweight structure, much like a solid foam. Importantly, crumpling a metal sheet is much easier than creating a metal foam. The research developed an empirical model that reliably predicts the reaction of a crumpled sheet to a compressive force.
“By directly measuring substructures, we show clearly that the bending in the stretching ridge is responsible for the strength of both elastic and plastic crumples,” the researchers explained in the paper. “Our simple, predictive model may open the door to the engineering use of a vast range of materials in this state of crumpled matter.”
Nature Communications is an open-access online journal, and is one of several publications of Nature Research. Other journals include Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Physics and Scientific Reports.
Croll earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and his doctorate in polymer physics from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
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