GRAIN-BOUNDARY INSTABILITIES AND BUCKLING IN PARTIALLY POLYMERIZED MEMBRANES

We show that a network of quenched random grain boundaries, terminating in polymerized patches containing excess disclinations, destabilizes the flat phase of sparsely polymerized membranes, in contrast to membranes completely polymerized in the liquid state. We argue that many of these grain boundaries will buckle, even in the absence of excess disclinicity, leading to a glassy wrinkled phase consistent with recent experiments on partially polymerized vesicles by Mutz, Bensimon, and Brienne [Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 923 (1991)].