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A sharper knife can puncture a surface with less force than a dull knife, presumably because a sharp knife has greater pressure than a dull knife for the same force.

I suspect that pressure alone isn't what we need for puncturing; e.g. if I apply the same pressure as the knife uniformly over a large area, I might not puncture the surface. Presumably I need some sort of minimum tension in the surface for it to tear after deforming under the pressure, or something like that, but I'm not sure what. How would you build a simple model for puncturing?

For a specific example, just imagine puncturing the leather on a couch, I guess.

Mark Eichenlaub
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Essentially, with sharper edges, you have to "perturb" less of the material.

A sharper edge can pierce better not only because of the increased pressure, but also because it can penetrate between mesoscopic features of the surface (fibers, layers, etc.).

Also, a sharper edge has to "push aside" less material and dislocate fewer crystal layers in order to penetrate the surface.

You should definitely check the answers to How does a knife cut things at the atomic level? for much more information.

I also wonder if it's perhaps also possible that a sharper edge leads in some cases to a smaller radius of the dent produced on the surface, which would imply higher local stress.

stafusa
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