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Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles

The European Physical Journal E volume 36, Article number: 22 (2013) Cite this article

Abstract

The protein hydrophobin HFBII self-assembles into very elastic films at the surface of water; these films wrinkle readily upon compression. We demonstrate and study this wrinkling instability in the context of non-planar interfaces by forming HFBII layers at the surface of bubbles whose interfaces are then compressed by deflation of the bubble. By varying the initial concentration of the hydrophobin solutions, we are able to show that buckling occurs at a critical packing fraction of protein molecules on the surface. Independent experiments show that at this packing fraction the interface has a finite positive surface tension, and not zero surface tension as is usually assumed at buckling. We attribute this non-zero wrinkling tension to the finite elasticity of these interfaces. We develop a simple geometrical model for the evolution of the wrinkle length with further deflation and show that wrinkles grow rapidly near the needle (used for deflation) towards the mid-plane of the bubble. This geometrical model yields predictions for the length of wrinkles in good agreement with experiments independently of the rheological properties of the adsorbed layer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE, Cambridge, UK

    Elodie Aumaitre & Pietro Cicuta

  2. Faculty of Physics, Technische Universität Dortmund, 44221, Dortmund, Germany

    Sebastian Knoche

  3. OCCAM, Mathematical Institute, 24-29 St Giles’, OX1 3LB, Oxford, UK

    Dominic Vella

  4. Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, CB3 0WA, Cambridge, UK

    Dominic Vella

Authors
  1. Elodie Aumaitre
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  2. Sebastian Knoche
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  3. Pietro Cicuta
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  4. Dominic Vella
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Aumaitre, E., Knoche, S., Cicuta, P. et al. Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles. Eur. Phys. J. E 36, 22 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2013-13022-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2013-13022-3

Keywords

  • Soft Matter: Interfacial Phenomena and Nanostructured Surfaces