Stretch-induced wrinkles in reinforced membranes: From out-of-plane to in-plane structures

We study, through model experiments, the buckling under tension of an elastic membrane reinforced with a more rigid strip or fiber. In these systems, the compression of the rigid layer is induced through Poisson contraction as the membrane is stretched perpendicularly to the strip. Although strips always lead to out-of-plane wrinkles, we observe a transition from out-of-plane to in-plane wrinkles beyond a critical strain in the case of fibers embedded into elastic membranes. We describe through scaling laws the evolution of the morphology of the wrinkles and the different transitions as a function of material properties and stretching strain. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2011