Buckling of multicomponent elastic shells with line tension

Abstract

We explore the effects of line tension on the shape of two component elastic shells. Segregation between components with different elastic properties combined with the subtleties related to the spherical topology leads to a rich variety of shapes. They range from irregular polyhedra at weak segregation to Janus-like morphologies with spherical and buckled regions coexisting on the same shell for large values of the line tension. We use Monte Carlo simulations to map a detailed phase diagram as a function of the relative fraction of the two components, the ratio of their bending rigidities, and the strength of the line tension.