Physics of Fluids - Publications

Universal spreading of water drops on complex surfaces

Soft Matter 10, 2641–2648 (2014)

Authors

	Bram Stapelbroek
	H.P. Jansen
	E. Stefan Kooij
	Jacco Snoeijer
	Antonin Eddi

BibTeΧ

@Article{C3SM52464G,
author ="Stapelbroek, B. B. J. and Jansen, H. P. and Kooij, E. S. and Snoeijer, J. H. and Eddi, A.",
title  ="Universal spreading of water drops on complex surfaces",
journal  ="Soft Matter",
year  ="2014",
volume  ="10",
issue  ="15",
pages  ="2641-2648",
publisher  ="The Royal Society of Chemistry",
doi  ="10.1039/C3SM52464G",
url  ="http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C3SM52464G",
abstract  ="A drop of water spreads very rapidly just after it is gently deposited on a solid surface. Here we experimentally investigate how these early stages of spreading are influenced by different types of surface complexity. In particular{,} we consider micro-textured substrates{,} chemically striped substrates and soft substrates. For all these complex substrates{,} it is found that there always exists an inertial regime where the radius r of the wetted area grows as r [similar] t1/2. For perfectly wetting substrates{,} this regime extends over several decades in time{,} whereas we observe a deviation from a pure power-law for partially wetting substrates. Our experiments reveal that even the cross-over from the 1/2 power law to the final equilibrium radius displays a universal dynamics. This cross-over is governed only by the final contact angle{,} regardless of the details of the substrate."}