FURTHER RESULTS FOR THE EVERSION OF HIGHLY COMPRESSIBLE ELASTIC CYLINDERS

We consider the eversion problem for highly compressible hyperelastic thick-walled cylinders. We focus attention on two features of such pro blems that are not adequately described by standard analysis. We inves tigate, first, closure of the cavity for sufficiently thick tubes and, second, the instability of relatively thin tubes. We find that the cl osure of the cavity can be ascribed to the fact that actual foam cylin ders behave differently in tension and compression. However, the insta bility of thinner cylinders seems to be governed by some other mechani sm. In the course of the analysis, we show how exact solutions to the equilibrium equation for the eversion problem can be generated. Unfort unately such solutions are not compatible with the boundary conditions .