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(16,284 posts)
Wed Aug 28, 2024, 07:05 AM Aug 2024

Paper types ranked by likelihood of paper cuts [View all]

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-paper-likelihood.html

AUGUST 27, 2024 REPORT

Paper types ranked by likelihood of paper cuts

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org



The physics of paper cuts. Credit: Physical Review E (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.110.025003

Via testing with a skin stand-in, a trio of physicists at Technical University of Denmark has ranked the types of paper that are the most likely to cause a paper cut. In an article published in Physical Review E, Sif Fink Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Matthew Biviano and Kaare Jensen tested the cutting ability and circumstances involved in paper cuts to compile their rankings.

Paper cuts occur through the handling of paper products. In addition to the nuisance factor due to the sudden flow of blood, there is also often a great deal of pain involved. In this new effort, the researchers noted that most research done on the topic revolves around infection factors. They chose instead to focus on the types of paper most likely to cause a cut, thereby allowing paper users a means to reduce their chances of an injury.

To test the cutting ability of different types of paper, the researchers used ballistics gelatin as a stand-in for skin. They then attempted to cut the gelatin using multiple types of paper. They noted the sturdiness and thickness of the paper, and the angles that were involved when cutting occurred.

The research team found that paper that was the most thin was unlikely to cause a cut because it tended to buckle instead. Also, thick paper rarely led to a cut because its surface was spread over too large an area. That left paper that is neither too thick nor too thin, like the kind that is used in newspapers or dot-matrix printers—the two types tied for the title "Most likely to cut skin."

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https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.110.025003
(subscription required for full text/pdf)

Competition between slicing and buckling underlies the erratic nature of paper cuts

Sif Fink Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Matthew D. Biviano, and Kaare H. Jensen
Phys. Rev. E 110, 025003 – Published 23 August 2024
Article has an altmetric score of 35

ABSTRACT
By enabling the dissemination and storage of information, paper has been central to human culture for more than a millennium. Its use is, however, associated with a common injury: the paper cut. Surprisingly, the physics underpinning a flexible sheet of paper slicing into soft tissues remains unresolved. In particular, the unpredictable occurrence of paper cuts, often restricted to a limited thickness range, has not been explained. Here we visualize and quantify the motion, deformation, and stresses during paper cuts, uncovering a remarkably complex relationship between cutting, geometry, and material properties. A model based on the hypothesis that a competition between slicing and buckling controls the probability of initiating a paper cut is developed and successfully validated. This explains why paper with a specific thickness is most hazardous (65µ⁢m, corresponding, e.g., to dot matrix paper) and suggests a probabilistic interpretation of irregular occurrence of paper cuts. Stimulated by these findings, we finally show how a recyclable cutting tool can harness the surprising power of paper.






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