Foam imbibition in microgravity

We report an experimental study of aqueous foam imbibition in microgravity with strict mass conservation. The foam is in a Hele-Shaw cell. The bubble edge width ℓ is measured by image analysis. The penetration of the liquid in the foam, the foam imbibition, the foam inflation, and the rigidity loss are shown all to obey strict diffusion processes. The motion of bubbles needed for the foam inflation is a slow two-dimensional process with respect to the one-dimensional capillary rise of liquid. The foam is found to imbibes faster than it inflates. Received 20 May 2002 / Received in final form 21 January 2003 Published online 23 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: herve.caps@ulg.ac.be