Vibration-assisted fabrication of thin shells with spatially distributed imperfections
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Krida, Ilyes
Tang, Jacob
Mangalath, Leo
Floryan, Daniel
Chen, Tian
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Thin-shell structures, found in biological systems such as beetle carapaces and widely used in aerospace and civil engineering, achieve remarkable strength-to-mass ratios given their slenderness and curved geometries. However, their load-bearing capacity is highly sensitive to geometric imperfections, which are often unavoidable during fabrication and can trigger subcritical buckling. Silicone-based hemispherical domes have served as an experimental surrogate to study this phenomenon, yet prior work has largely focused on localized imperfections, failing to capture the spatially distributed nature of real-world imperfection patterns. Here, we introduce a vibration-assisted method for fabricating thin shells with spatially distributed, mode-shaped imperfections. Silicone is cast onto a thick elastic mold excited by a speaker, and vibration-induced flow during curing creates thickness variations. High-speed imaging and destructive measurements reveal material accumulation at the antinodes of the mold’s vibrational modes. The engineered imperfections can be tuned by excitation frequency and mold shape, while their amplitude increases with speaker volume. Buckling experiments demonstrate significant reductions in critical pressure, offering a scalable platform to study and tune imperfection-sensitivity. Beyond shell mechanics, this method enables patterning of soft materials for applications ranging from morphable surfaces to bioinspired design.
Date Issued
2026-07-27
Date Acceptance
2026-05-08
Citation
Nature Communications, 2026, 17
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
17
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/42161930
PII: 10.1038/s41467-026-73343-2
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
ARTN 7324
Date Publish Online
2026-05-20