Effect of interface plasticity on circular blisters

Abstract Numerical simulations based on finite-strain elasticity and a phase-field model of dislocations reveal that dislocations are emitted at the crack-front delamination of a circular blister. It is shown that the phenomenon induces a sliding in the film-substrate interface that modifies the shape of the buckling structure. This phenomenon is theoretically quantified introducing an axisymmetric sliding into the Foppl and von-Karman equations that describe the elastic behavior of the film. By extending the analytical investigations to the crack opening, it is shown that dislocation-induced sliding may stabilize the buckling-driven delamination of three-dimensional structures.