Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 228101 (2006) [4 pages]Failure of Viral ShellsReceived 22 June 2006; published 27 November 2006 We report a combined theoretical and experimental study of the structural failure of viral shells under mechanical stress. We find that discontinuities in the force-indentation curve associated with failure should appear when the so-called Föppl–von Kármán (FvK) number exceeds a critical value. A nanoindentation study of a viral shell subject to a soft-mode instability, where the stiffness of the shell decreases with increasing pH, confirms the predicted onset of failure as a function of the FvK number. © 2006 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.228101
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.228101
PACS:
87.15.La, 46.32.+x, 87.17.Aa, 87.64.Dz
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