title: Perversions with a twist.
abstract: Perversions connecting two helices with symmetric handedness are a common occurrence in nature, for example in tendrils. These defects can be found in our day life decorating ribbon gifts or when plants use tendrils to attach to a support. Perversions arise when clamped elastic filaments coil into a helical shape but have to conserve zero overall twist. We investigate whether other types of perversions exist and if they display different properties. Here we show mathematically and experimentally that a continuous range of different perversions can exist and present different geometries. Experimentally, different perversions were generated using micro electrospun fibres. Our experimental results also confirm that these perversions behave differently upon release and adopt different final configurations. These results also demonstrate that it is possible to control on demand the formation and shape of microfilaments, in particular, of electrospun fibres by using ultraviolet light.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics/Institute for Biomedicine -iBiMED, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro E S
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Institute for Polymers and Composites - IPC/I3N, University of Minho, Campus de Azurem, 4800-058, Guimaraes, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joao L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Trigueiros
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencia dos Materiais and CENIMAT/I3N, Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Trindade
authors.affiliation: Institute for Polymers and Composites - IPC/I3N, University of Minho, Campus de Azurem, 4800-058, Guimaraes, Portugal.|Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave (IPCA), Campus do IPCA, 4750-810, Barcelos, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Simoes
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics/I3N - University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro Portugal.
authors.forename: Ricardo G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencia dos Materiais and CENIMAT/I3N, Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria Helena
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Godinho
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics/Institute for Biomedicine -iBiMED, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro Portugal.
authors.forename: Fernao Vistulo
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: de Abreu