Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Within the framework of a semi-microscopic interface displacement model in the small slope approximation we analyze the linear stability of sessile ridges and drops of a non-volatile liquid on a homogeneous, partially wet substrate, for both signs and arbitrary amplitudes of the three-phase contact line tension. Focusing on perturbations which correspond to deformations of the three-phase contact line, we find that drops are generally stable while ridges are subject only to the long-wavelength Rayleigh-Plateau instability leading to a breakup into droplets, in contrast to the predictions of capillary models which take line tension into account. We argue that the short-wavelength instabilities predicted within the framework of the latter macroscopic capillary theory occur outside its range of validity and thus are spurious.
Source: Europhysics Letters (EPL)
Institutions: École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Laboratoire de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, University of Stuttgart, Max Planck Society, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Language: English
Subfield: Computational Mechanics
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2067702629