Symmetrization of Thin Free-Standing Liquid Films via Capillary-Driven Flow

Vincent Bertin (1) , John Niven (2) , Howard A. Stone (3) , Thomas Salez (1) , Elie Raphael (4) , Kari Dalnoki-Veress (2)

1 LOMA - Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine
2 McMaster University [Hamilton, Ontario]
3 MAE - Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering [Princeton]
4 Gulliver (UMR 7083)

We present experiments to study the relaxation of a nano-scale cylindrical perturbation at one of the two interfaces of a thin viscous free-standing polymeric film. Driven by capillarity, the film flows and evolves towards equilibrium by first symmetrizing the perturbation between the two interfaces, and eventually broadening the perturbation. A full-Stokes hydrodynamic model is presented which accounts for both the vertical and lateral flows, and which highlights the symmetry in the system. The symmetrization time is found to depend on the membrane thickness, surface tension, and viscosity.

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Vincent Bertin, John Niven, Howard A. Stone, Thomas Salez, Elie Raphael, et al.. Symmetrization of Thin Free-Standing Liquid Films via Capillary-Driven Flow. Physical Review Letters, 2020, 124, pp.184502. ⟨hal-02415522⟩