Research puts new wrinkle in study of materials folding under pressure

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Ka Yee Lee associate professor in chemistry at the University of Chicago and her associates study the characteristics of lung surfactant a microscopically thin membrane that facilitates breathing. Photo by Beth Rooney
Ka Yee Lee, associate professor in chemistry at the University of Chicago, and her associates study the characteristics of lung surfactant, a microscopically thin membrane that facilitates breathing. Photo by Beth Rooney

Scientists at the University of Chicago and the University of Santiago in Chile have explained, for the first time, the physics that governs how thin materials at scales millions of times different in thickness make the transition from wrinkles into folds under compression.


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