Buckling modes of elastic thin films on elastic substrates

Abstract

Two buckling modes have been observed in thin films: buckle delamination and wrinkling. This letter identifies the conditions for selecting the favored buckling modes for elastic films on elastic substrates. Transition from one buckling mode to another is predicted as the stiffness ratio between the substrate and the film or is predicted for variation of the stiffness ratio between the substrate and the film or variation of theinterfacial defect size. The theoretical results are demonstrated experimentally by observing the coexistence of both buckling modes and mode transition in one film-substrate system. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.