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Patterning surface textured plates with a viscoplastic fluid

Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The deposition of a viscoplastic fluid onto a substrate can be achieved by moving apart two plates initially separated by a fluid-filled gap, where the footprint shape depends on the initiation of a fingering instability. Here, we present an approach for controlled deposition of a viscoplastic fluid by designing the macroscopic structure of the solid substrate. Through experiments in a lifted Hele-Shaw cell, we explore how slot, square, pyramid, and triangular patterns affect the dynamics of liquid deposition. The substrate structures directly control the symmetry and final shape of the deposited viscoplastic footprint, while having little systematic influence on the maximal normal adhesive force or on the force-gap scaling exponents once the total entrapped volume is accounted for through an effective initial gap. We develop a scaling description for the normal force of a Herschel–Bulkley fluid, showing that the measured force decay reflects a superposition of capillary, yield stress, and viscous contributions. For experiments producing stable patterning, the measured effective exponents are consistent with the theoretical range predicted by this model. Finally, we interpret the pattern-selection mechanism through a dynamical permeability analysis where the substrate texture creates an anisotropic permeability field whose angular maxima correlate with the preferred inward propagation directions of the invading air. Our results highlight a direct link between substrate geometry, interfacial dynamics, and the final deposited morphology, showing how millimetric deposition patterns can be programed using submillimetric surface structures.
DOI: 10.1103/1jz3-5j4d
Language: English
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4416519758
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Cites: 34
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