Eur. Phys. J. E 3, 337-341
Spinodal dewetting of thin liquid films at soft interfaces
A. Martin - O. Rossier - A. Buguin - P. Auroy - F. Brochard-Wyart
UMR 168, Institut Curie, Section de Recherche,
PCC, 26 rue d'Ulm - 75248 Paris, Cedex 05, France
brochard@curie.fr
Received 11 February 2000 and Received in final form 22 May 2000
Abstract
We study theoretically the behavior of nanoscopic liquid
films L (thickness e) intercalated between a solid S and a
rubber R (elastic modulus ). Thickness modulations involve a
healing length
,
which results from a competition between
elastic and disjoining pressure. With van der Waals interactions,
,
where a is a molecular size and h0 the
rubber capillary length (
,
interfacial tension). If the Hamaker
constant of the intercalated liquid is negative, the film dewets by
amplification of peristaltic fluctuations ("spinodal dewetting'').
The typical size of the S/R contacts is predicted to scale
like
for films of thicknesses
.
The rise
time
of the fastest mode, predicted to scale like
,
should be very sensitive to the film thickness.
PACS
68.45.Gd Wetting - 68.35.Wm Other nonelectronic properties
- 83.50.Lh Interfacial and free surface flows; slip
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