https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2008-10375-6
Regular Article
Monitoring the buckling threshold of drying colloidal droplets using water-ethanol mixtures
1
UMR CNRS 8612, Université Paris Sud, Châtenay-Malabry, France
2
UMR 8612, CNRS, Châtenay-Malabry, France
* e-mail: nicolas.tsapis@u-psud.fr
Received:
1
January
2008
Revised:
9
July
2008
Accepted:
16
September
2008
Published online:
16
October
2008
We visualize the drying of droplets of colloids suspended in a mixture of two miscible solvents, namely water and ethanol. After a period of isotropic shrinkage, droplets suddenly buckle like elastic shells. For a fixed colloid solid fraction, the buckling threshold evolves as a function of ethanol content, due to changes of the solvent mixture physical properties, such as viscosity and evaporation rate. A simplified model predicting the qualitative behavior of the buckling threshold as a function of the initial ethanol mass fraction has been developed that fits well experimental results.
PACS: 82.70.Kj Emulsions and suspensions – / 47.56.+r Flows through porous media –
© Springer, 2008
