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arXiv · 1507.08864

Universal contact-line dynamics at the nanoscale

Marco Rivetti·Thomas Salez·Michael Benzaquen·Elie Raphaël·Oliver Bäumchen
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Abstract

The relaxation dynamics of the contact angle between a viscous liquid and a smooth substrate is studied at the nanoscale. Through atomic force microscopy measurements of polystyrene nanostripes we monitor simultaneously the temporal evolution of the liquid-air interface as well as the position of the contact line. The initial configuration exhibits high curvature gradients and a non-equilibrium contact angle that drive liquid flow. Both these conditions are relaxed to achieve the final state, leading to three successive regimes along time: i) stationary-contact-line levelling; ii) receding-contact-line dewetting; iii) collapse of the two fronts. For the first regime, we reveal the existence of a self-similar evolution of the liquid interface, which is in excellent agreement with numerical calculations from a lubrication model. For different liquid viscosities and film thicknesses we provide evidence for a transition to dewetting featuring a universal critical contact angle and dimensionless time.

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Marco Rivetti, Thomas Salez, Michael Benzaquen, Elie Raphaël, Oliver Bäumchen. 2015-07-31. Universal contact-line dynamics at the nanoscale. https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.08864

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