ON THE EVERSION OF INCOMPRESSIBLE ELASTIC CYLINDERS

The eversion of incompressible isotropic elastic cylinders is consider ed. The main problem is formulated as a bifurcation problem with the u ndeformed thickness ratio as a parameter. Numerical results are presen ted for several different material models and, in all cases, we find t hat there is a critical thickness for the tube. Thinner tubes can be e verted to a cylindrical shape, thicker tubes will undergo a bifurcatio n upon eversion and so the cylindrical shape will not be attained. We find that the length to radius ratio of the tube only plays a signific ant role for one particular bifurcation mode.