2022 Impact factor 1.8
Soft Matter and Biological Physics


Eur. Phys. J. E 5, 81-85

Stratification of foam films made from polyelectrolyte solutions

D. Langevin

Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Sud, bâtiment 510, 91405 Orsay, France

langevin@lps.u-psud.fr

(Received 25 April 2000 and Received in final form 3 October 2000)

Abstract
Studies of thin liquid films, made from semidilute polyelectrolyte solutions, are presented. The disjoining pressure variation with film thickness exhibits oscillations, corresponding to film stratification. The oscillations become sharper as the polymer concentration c increases, and disappear when salt is added. The period of the oscillations scales as c-1/2. The observed stratification is related to the polymer network and the size of the steps to the mesh size $\xi$.

PACS
68.15.+e - Liquid thin films.
61.25.Hq - Macromolecular and polymer solutions; polymer melts; swelling.


© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2001