Impact dynamics of drops on thin films of viscoelastic wormlike micelle solutions

The impact dynamics of water drops on thin films of viscoelastic wormlike micelle solutions is experimentally studied using a high-speed digital video camera at frame rates up to 4000 frame/s. The composition and thickness of the thin film is modified to investigate the effect of fluid rheology on the evolution of crown growth, the formation of satellite droplets and the formation of the Worthington jet. The experiments are performed using a series of wormlike micelle solutions composed of a surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and a salt, sodium salicylate (NaSal), in deionized water. The linear viscoelastic shear rheology of the wormlike micelle solutions is well described by a Maxwell model with a single relaxation time while the steady shear rheology is found to shear thin quite heavily. In transient homogeneous uniaxial extension, the wormlike micelle solutions demonstrate significant strain hardening. The size and velocity of the impacting drop is varied to study the relative importance of Weber, Ohnesorge, and Deborah numbers on the impact dynamics. The addition of elasticity to the thin film fluid is found to suppress the crown growth and the formation of satellite drops with the largest effects observed at small film thicknesses. A new form of the splashing threshold is postulated which accounts for the effects of viscoelasticity and collapses the satellite droplet data onto a single master curve dependent only on dimensionless film thickness and the underlying surface roughness. Additionally, a plateau is observed in the growth of the maximum height of the Worthington jet height with increasing impact velocity. It is postulated that the complex behavior of the Worthington jet growth is the result of a dissipative mechanism stemming from the scission of wormlike micelles.     

A film flow model for analysing gravity-driven,thin wavy fluid films

To analyse the physics underlying gravity-driven runoff of thin wavy films, a film flow model is developed, and is solved with computational fluid dynamics. This model is based on the lubrication theory, and takes into account the gravitational, wall shear and surface tension forces. A key characteristic of the model is that it assumes only one computational cell over the film height, which enables studying film flow on larger computational domains. A main aim of this study is to perform a detailed validation of the numerical model. The film flow model is validated against several experiments of gravity-driven, thin fluid films on smooth surfaces. The time-averaged film thickness and the fluid speed profiles predicted by the model show very good agreement with experimental results. Similarly, the film flow model is able to predict the wave speeds with sufficient accuracy. The energy spectra of the waves, where higher frequency waves are present in film flows at higher Reynolds numbers, show an exponentially decaying trend at these high frequencies. The model performs better than the Nusselt equation for film flows, which under-predicts the time-averaged film thickness and over-predicts the time-averaged fluid speeds, even for flows at low Reynolds numbers. The film flow model is compared qualitatively for fingering behaviour. This model also allows to investigate film flows on large surfaces, which can be rough, curved and of complex geometrical shape.     

Determining the Elastic Modulus of Compliant Thin Films Supported on Substrates from Flat Punch Indentation Measurements

Instrumented indentation is a technique that can be used to measure the elastic properties of soft thin films supported on stiffer substrates, including polymer films, cellulosic sheets, and thin layers of biological materials. When measuring thin film properties using indentation, the effect of the substrate must be considered. Most existing models for determining the properties of thin films from indentation measurements were developed for metal and dielectric films bonded to semiconductor substrates and have been applied to systems with film-substrate modulus ratios between 0.1 and 10. In the present work, flat punch indentation of a thin film either bonded to or in contact with a substrate is examined using finite element modeling. A broad range of film-substrate modulus ratios from 0.0001 to 1 are investigated. As the substrate is effectively rigid compared to the film when the film-substrate modulus ratio is less than 0.0001, the results are also useful for understanding systems with lower film-substrate modulus ratios. The effects of the contact radius, film thickness, elastic properties, and friction between the film and the substrate on the measured stiffness were quantified using finite element modeling in order to understand how the elastic properties of the film can be extracted from indentation measurements. A semi-analytical model was developed to describe the finite element modeling results and facilitate the use of the results to analyze experimental measurements. The model was validated through analysis of indentation measurements of thin polyethylene sheets that were supported on substrates of various stiffness.     

Multiscale computations of thin films in multiphase flows

In multiphase flows thin films are often encountered when fluid masses collide. These films can become very thin and in direct numerical simulations (DNS) it is often impractical to resolve their thickness fully, even with adaptive grid refining. Here we examine the collision of a fluid drop with a wall and develop a multiscale approach to compute the flow in the film between the drop and the wall. By using a semi-analytical model for the flow in the film we capture the evolution of films thinner than the grid spacing reasonably well.     

The splash/non-splash boundary upon a dry surface and thin fluid film

On the basis of empirical data, power-law boundary relations are formulated to delineate the splash and non-splash regions on dry surfaces or thin films under isothermal conditions, using the Ohnesorge and Reynolds numbers. Approximation of the relations permits cancellation of fundamental fluid physical constants to give simplified formulas which provide insight into the governing parameters describing splashing and non-splashing behaviors. Thus, for a droplet impinging upon a dry solid surface, the splash/non-splash border is well described by √Ca = 0.35. For a drop impinging upon a thin fluid film, the analytical simplification yields a boundary described by √We = 20. For both expressions, values greater than the numerical value result in splashing.     

纳米薄膜润滑物理—数学模型及数值分析

基于润滑剂分子通常具有链状结构的事实，在分析润滑剂分子链长同膜厚关系的基础上，建立了纳米薄膜润滑物理模型，并利用含旋转量的流体力学运动方程得到了相应的Reynolds方程，同时对薄膜润滑Reynolds方程进行了数值计算，以考察特征长度对薄膜润滑状态参数的影响。结果表明，同相应的厚膜解相比，薄膜模型中润滑剂的粘度及承载能力均明显提高，且其提高幅度随着特征长度的增大而增大。根据润滑剂分子链长度确定的薄膜润滑区间以及膜厚－速度关系数值解同相应的试验结果一致。     

Micron-scale channel formation by the release and bond-back of pre-stressed thin films: A finite element analysis

Buckling of thin films on a rigid substrate during use or fabrication is a well-known but unwanted phenomenon. However, this phenomenon can also be exploited to generate well-controlled patterns at the micro and nano-scale. These patterned surfaces find various technological applications such as optical gratings or micro/nano-fluidic channels. In this article, we present a numerical model that accounts for the buckling-up of pre-strained thin films by a reduction of the interface toughness and the subsequent bond-back. Channels are formed whose dimensions can be controlled by tuning the film dimensions, film thickness and stiffness, the eigenstrain in the film and the cohesive interface energy between the film and the substrate. We will show how the buckling-up and draping back processes can be captured in terms of a limited set of dimensionless parameters, providing quantitative insight on how these parameters should be tuned to generate a specified channel geometry.     

Investigation into thin films under microgravity

Thin films are interesting for practical as well as for theoretical reasons. As fluid science and materials science in space have been developing rapidly in recent years, investigation into thin films under microgravity conditions grants this classical topic new research ideas and new application possibilities. This paper first gives an overview about the investigation into thin liquid films and its solidification in the past. Then a discussion leads to microgravity in relevance to thin film research; specially, the influence of gravity on the thin film drainage. Some results from our research program are then presented. Finally, the authors tried to point out several possible directions in the research on thin films under microgravity in the near future. in memory of Prof. L. G. Napolitano     

A Discontinuous Elastic Interface Transfer Model of Thin Film Nanoindentation

A new model of thin film indentation that accounted for an apparent discontinuity in elastic strain transfer at the film/substrate interface was developed. Finite element analysis suggested that numerical values of strain were not directly continuous across the interface; the values in the film were higher when a soft film was deposited on a hard substrate. The new model was constructed based on this discontinuity; whereby, separate weighting factors were applied to account for the influence of the substrate in strain developed in the film and vice-versa. By comparing the model to experimental data from thirteen different amorphous thin film materials on a silicon substrate, constants in each weighting factor were found to have physical significance in being numerically similar to the bulk scale Poisson’s ratios of the materials involved. When employing these material properties in the new model it was found to provide an improved match to the experimental data over the existing Doerner and Nix and Gao models. Finally, the model was found to be capable of assessing the Young’s modulus of thin films that do not exhibit a flat region as long as the bulk Poisson’s ratio is known.     

Pure-shear Failure of Thin Films by Laser-induced Shear Waves

The measurement of mode-dependent thin film interfacial properties is important in evaluating the quality of the interfaces between thin films and substrates. Previous work has proved that tensile and mixed-mode strength of a thin film/substrate interface can be evaluated using a laser-induced thin film spallation technique. To further examine the application regime of this technique and identify the individual roles of the tensile and shear stress in the resulting interfacial failure, a special sample design is adopted in the current work to realize pure-shear loading at the thin film/substrate interface. Our result demonstrates that for sufficiently high stress amplitude, interfacial failure can be induced solely by the in-plane shear stress and the stress can be quantitatively determined from optical interferometric measurements. Together with the previous tensile and mixed-mode studies, a complete picture of the mode-dependent thin film interfacial strength can now be reliably determined using the laser-induced thin film spallation techniques.     

Modeling of dual emission laser induced fluorescence for slurry thickness measurements in chemical mechanical polishing

Dual emission laser induced fluorescence (DELIF) is a technique for measuring the instantaneous thin fluid film thickness in dynamic systems. Two fluorophores within the system produce laser induced emissions that are filtered and captured by two cameras. The ratio of the images from these cameras is used to cancel the effect of the laser beam profile on the image intensity. The resultant intensity ratio can be calibrated to a fluid film thickness. The utilization of a 2-dye system when applied to Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) is complicated by the fluorescence of the polymeric polishing pad and the light scattering particles in the polishing slurry. We have developed a model of DELIF for CMP with 1-dye employing the polishing pad as the second fluorophore. While scattering particles in the slurry decrease the overall intensity of the individual images, the contrast in the image ratio increases. Using the 1-dye DELIF system to measure thin slurry films, our model results indicate that a cubic calibration may be needed. However, experimental results suggest a linear calibration is achieved for slurry films between 0 and 133???m thick with scattering coefficients as high as 8.66?mm^?1 at a wavelength equal to 410?nm.     

铅基压电薄膜材料的制备、微结构与性能

随着微电子技术的发展和高度集成化的趋势,压电薄膜材料愈来愈受到人们的重视.本文对铅基类压电薄膜材料的研究进展进行了评述,主要讨论了:(1) 两种主要制备方法:脉冲激光熔融法(PLD)和溶胶凝胶法(Sol-Gel); (2) 压电薄膜微观结构的表征,如畴结构,薄膜材料与大块材料的差别等;(3) 压电薄膜材料力学、电学及相互耦合性能的评价参数,薄膜处理过程的相变和残余应力和破坏特征.最后提出了人们可能关注的一些问题.      

Effect of permeability on the instability of a non-Newtonian film down a porous inclined plane

A thin film of a power–law fluid flowing down a porous inclined plane is considered. It is assumed that the flow through the porous medium is governed by the modified Darcy’s law together with Beavers–Joseph boundary condition for a general power–law fluid. Under the assumption of small permeability relative to the thickness of the overlying fluid layer, the flow is decoupled from the filtration flow through the porous medium and a slip condition at the bottom is used to incorporate the effects of the permeability of the porous substrate. Applying the long-wave theory, a nonlinear evolution equation for the thickness of the film is obtained. A linear stability analysis of the base flow is performed and the critical condition for the onset of instability is obtained. The results show that the substrate porosity in general destabilizes the film flow system and the shear-thinning rheology enhances this destabilizing effect. A weakly nonlinear stability analysis reveals the existence of supercritical stable and subcritical unstable regions in the wave number versus Reynolds number parameter space. The numerical solution of the nonlinear evolution equation in a periodic domain shows that the fully developed nonlinear solutions are either time-dependent modes that oscillate slightly in the amplitude or time independent stable two-dimensional nonlinear waves with large amplitude referred to as ‘permanent waves’. The results show that the shape and the amplitude of the nonlinear waves are strongly influenced by the permeability of the porous medium and the shear-thinning rheology.     

Measurements of Deflection and Residual Stress in Thin Films Utilizing Coherent Light Reflection/Projection Moiré Interferometry

Thin film technology is an area of great importance in current applications of opto-electronics, electronics, MEMS and computer technology. A critical issue in thin film technology is residual stresses that arise when the coating is deposited onto a substrate. Residual stresses can be very large in magnitude and have detrimental effects on the role that the thin film must play. To save development time on coating deposition processes it is important to perform accurate residual stresses measurements in situ in real time where the deposition is made. A novel optical set up is developed in this study to measure deflections and residual stresses generated in coated specimens that can be applied directly in the reactor utilized in the deposition process. Experimental results are in good agreement with other measurements carried out independently and other data reported in literature for thin films like those tested in the experiments.     

A directed continuum model of micro- and nano-scale thin films

As is well known, classical continuum theories cease to adequately model a material’s behavior as long-range loads or interactions begin to have a greater effect on the overall behavior of the material, i.e., as the material no longer conforms to the locality requirements of classical continuum theories. It is suggested that certain structures to be analyzed in this work, e.g., columnar thin films, are influenced by non-local phenomena. Directed continuum theories, which are often used to capture non-local behavior in the context of a continuum theory, will therefore be used. The analysis in this work begins by establishing the kinematics relationships for a discrete model based on the physical structure of a columnar thin film. The strain energy density of the system is calculated and used to formulate a directed continuum theory, in particular a micromorphic theory, involving deformations of the film substrate and deformations of the columnar structure. The resulting boundary value problem is solved analytically to obtain the deformation of the film in response to applied end displacements.     

Rotating electroosmotic flow of an Eyring fluid

A perturbation analysis is presented in this paper for the electroosmotic(EO) flow of an Eyring fluid through a wide rectangular microchannel that rotates about an axis perpendicular to its own. Mildly shear-thinning rheology is assumed such that at the leading order the problem reduces to that of Newtonian EO flow in a rotating channel, while the shear thinning effect shows up in a higher-order problem.Using the relaxation time as the small ordering parameter,analytical solutions are deduced for the leading-as well as first-order problems in terms of the dimensionless Debye and rotation parameters. The velocity profiles of the Ekman–electric double layer(EDL) layer, which is the boundary layer that arises when the Ekman layer and the EDL are comparably thin, are also deduced for an Eyring fluid. It is shown that the present perturbation model can yield results that are close to the exact solutions even when the ordering parameter is as large as order unity. By this order of the relaxation time parameter, the enhancing effect on the rotating EO flow due to shear-thinning Eyring rheology can be significant.     

不同滑滚比下润滑油膜流变特性试验观察与数值模拟

通过在原有的球-盘接触光干涉润滑油膜测量装置上增设摩擦力测量单元,实现了任意滑滚比下油膜厚度和摩擦系数的同步测量与润滑状态的直观识别. 采用FVA3参考油,分析了不同滑滚比、速度和载荷下的摩擦系数变化规律,并结合油膜干涉图明确了润滑状态与热效应机制,推断出摩擦系数曲面在较低速工况存在混合润滑区域;通过采用基于恢复时间的流变模型对FVA3油品的流变润滑进行数值模拟,并与同等工况下的试验结果进行定量对比,两者取得了良好的吻合性,验证了试验测量的准确性和流变模型的适用性.      

Instability of structured magnetic films in the absence of an external magnetic field

A phenomenological theory is proposed to describe the equilibrium of a thin structured film of magnetic fluid on the surface of another non-magnetic fluid in the absence of an external magnetic field. The stability of a semi-infinite plane magnetic film is considered on the basis of the theory proposed. The result obtained can serve as a qualitative explanation of experiments performed on thin films of magnetic fluid. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 105–110, November–December, 1986. The author is grateful to L. I. Sedov and V. V. Gogosov for useful discussions and their interest in his work.     

A rheological theory for liquid crystal thin films

A macroscopic rheological theory for compressible isothermal nematic liquid crystal films is developed and used to characterize the interfacial elastic, viscous, and viscoelastic material properties. The derived expression for the film stress tensor includes elastic and viscous components. The asymmetric film viscous stress tensor takes into account the nematic ordering and is given in terms of the film rate of deformation and the surface Jaumann derivative. The material function that describes the anisotropic viscoelasticity is the dynamic film tension, which includes the film tension and dilational viscosities. Viscous dissipation due to film compressibility is described by the anisotropic dilational viscosity. Three characteristic film shear viscosities are defined according to whether the nematic orientation is along the velocity direction, the velocity gradient, or the unit normal. In addition the dependence of the rheological functions on curvature and film thickness has been identified. The rheological theory provides a theoretical framework to future studies of thin liquid crystal film stability and hydrodynamics, and liquid crystal foam rheology. Received: 9 October 2000 Accepted: 6 April 2001     

Asymptotic model of slow three-dimensional liquid film flow in a space drop catcher

Slow steady-state film flows formed on the inner surface of a drop catcher funnel due to inertial deposition of drops of a dispersed working matter in the spacecraft cooling system are considered. A limiting asymptotic model of slow three-dimensional coolant film flow is constructed assuming that the deposited drops transfer all their mass, momentum, and energy to the film described by the equations of creeping viscous fluid flow in a thin layer of a priori unknown thickness. A first-order quasi-linear partial differential equation for the film thickness is derived. The shape of the film surface is investigated numerically as a function of parameters using the method of characteristics. The range of optimum parameters ensuring the steady-state film flow is found. The limits of existence of the solutions corresponding to the limiting model proposed are investigated.