Profile of the liquid film wetting a channel

Janine Emile (1) , Federico Casanova (1) , Hervé Tabuteau (1) , Olivier Emile (2)

1 IPR - Institut de Physique de Rennes
2 URU 435 LPL - URU 435 Laboratoire de physique des lasers

We have developed a simple optical technique to investigate the characteristics of liquid films wetting solid surfaces. To validate this technique, we have studied the wetting film that separates a train of lamellas moving through a channel. Total reflection of the laser beam on the wetting film/air interface is used to extract the profile and the thickness of the wetting film. For quasistatic movement of lamellas, we show that the thickness is well described by a capillary number power law.

Mots clés: capillarity; film flow; interface phenomena; liquid films; nondestructive testing; Liquid thin films; Nondestructive testing: optical methods; Thin film flows; Wetting

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]

Janine Emile, Federico Casanova, Hervé Tabuteau, Olivier Emile. Profile of the liquid film wetting a channel. Applied Physics Letters, 2012, 100 (7), pp.074107. ⟨10.1063/1.3685696⟩. ⟨hal-00909227⟩