The role of surface rheology in liquid film formation

Benoît Scheid (1) , Jérôme Delacotte (2) , Benjamin Dollet (3) , Emmanuelle Rio (4) , Frederic Restagno (2) , Ernst von Nierop (1) , Isabelle Cantat (3) , Dominique Langevin (2) , Howard A. Stone (1)

1 SEAS - Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
2 LPS - Laboratoire de Physique des Solides
3 IPR - Institut de Physique de Rennes
4 PMMH - Physique et mécanique des milieux hétérogenes (UMR 7636)

The role of surface rheology in fundamental fluid dynamical systems, such as liquid coating flows and soap film formation, is poorly understood. We investigate the role of surface viscosity in the classical film-coating problem. We propose a theoretical model that predicts film thickening based on a purely surface-viscous theory. The theory is supported by a set of new experimental data that demonstrates slight thickening even at very high surfactant concentrations for which Marangoni effects are irrelevant. The model and experiments represent a new regime that has not been identified before.

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

Benoît Scheid, Jérôme Delacotte, Benjamin Dollet, Emmanuelle Rio, Frederic Restagno, et al.. The role of surface rheology in liquid film formation. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2010, 90 (2), pp.24002. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/90/24002⟩. ⟨hal-00495481⟩