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Liquid Thin Film Hydrodynamics: Dewetting and Pattern Formation

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Mechanics Over Micro and Nano Scales

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Abstract

Ultra-thin polymer films become unstable due to various types of interaction forces like van der Waals interaction, steric forces, molecular level recoiling, sudden release of residual stresses or due to the presence of defects on substrate or the film, resulting in disintegration and rupture of the film, which is also associated with morphological evolution and formation of mesoscale surface features. In this chapter we introduce the concept of dewetting first, followed by a brief theoretical discussion on the conditions under which a thin liquid film can spontaneously become unstable, based on a linear stability analysis. We subsequently discuss the morphological evolution sequence under true experimental conditions. The instability-mediated structures are inherently random and isotropic, thereby having limited practical utility. We discuss how dewetting on a topographically patterned substrate might be useful in imposing long-range order to the dewetted structures. Finally, we discuss some recent developments on suppressing dewetting in unstable film by incorporation of nanoparticles or nanofillers in extremely low amount to the polymer matrix. This approach of stabilizing ultra-thin films will be extremely useful from the standpoint of coatings, which should not degrade and disintegrate with time.

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Acknowledgment

The author wishes to thank Ashutosh Sharma, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT, Kanpur, for valuable discussion and useful advices. Funding from a DST Nano Mission project is gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Rabibrata Mukherjee

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  1. Rabibrata Mukherjee
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Correspondence to Rabibrata Mukherjee .

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  1. Dept. Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Suman Chakraborty

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Mukherjee, R. (2011). Liquid Thin Film Hydrodynamics: Dewetting and Pattern Formation. In: Chakraborty, S. (eds) Mechanics Over Micro and Nano Scales. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9601-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9601-5_6

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