Comprehensive Analysis on Wrinkled Patterns Generated by Inflation and Contraction of Spherical Voids

We comprehensively investigated the wrinkles of a stiff layer covering a spherical void embedded in a rubber matrix after the void experienced inflation or contraction. We developed an easy experimental way to realize the inflation and contraction of the voids. The inflation took place in a void right beneath the surface of the matrix and the contraction happened in a void at the bottom of the rubber matrix. In the inflation, the wrinkle at the center of the deformation was random, and the pattern propagated into rabyrinthine, herringbone, and then oriented parallel lines as the position was away from the center of the inflation to the edge. The cracks were concentric, which were perpendicular to the parallel wrinkled pattern. In the contraction, the wrinkle was simply concentric around the surface of the void without any crack. The cracks were found only near the center of the deformation. The strain distribution in the stiff layer after the inflation and contraction was theoretically analyzed with simulations that were in excellent agreement with the experimental results.