We report a novel mode of oscillatory crack propagation when a cutting tip is
driven through a thin brittle polymer film. The phenomenon is so robust that it
can easily be reproduced at hand (using CD packaging material for example).
Careful experiments show that the amplitude and wavelength of the oscillatory
crack path scale lineraly with the width of the cutting tip over a wide range
of lenghtscales but are independant of the width of thje sheet and the cutting
speed. A simple geometric model is presented, which provides a simple but
thorough interpretation of the oscillations.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to Comptes Rendus Academie des Sciences. Movies
available at http://www.lmm.jussieu.fr/platefractur