Hysteresis in the creasing instability of hydrogels and elastomers

Soft polymers placed under compressive stress can undergo an elastic creasing instability in which sharp folds spontaneously form on the free surfaces. This process can play an important role in a variety of material failure modes, but has also been harnessed to fabricate dynamic chemical and topographic patterns. Creases have been found to form by nucleation and growth, which we show reflects the influence of surface energy as a barrier for both processes. Hysteresis in the loading and unloading cycles is an important aspect of this process, but has been reported to occur to different degrees in different material systems. Through variations in interfacial energy, we show that for a model elastomeric system, it is self-adhesion within the folding region rather than plastic deformation that gives rise to hysteresis.