2022/07/11 by Frédéric Lechenault, Iyad Ramdane, Lechenault, Frederic +7 · 1 citation
Engineering · #Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2207.04905
openalex publication_date 2022/07/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Cutting mozzarella with a dull blade results in poorly shaped slices: the process occurs in a configuration so deformed as to yield unexpectedly curved surfaces. We study the rich morphogenetics arising from such process through the example of coring: when a thin cylindrical hollow punch is pushed into a soft elastomer, the extracted core is "clarinet-shaped", reaching diameters far smaller than those of the tool. With contributions from fracture mechanics and large strain theory, we build a simple yet quantitative understanding of the observed shapes, revealing the crucial role of friction.