Signatures of slip in dewetting polymer films

Abstract

Thin polymer films on hydrophobic substrates are susceptible to rupture and hole formation. This, in turn, initiates a complex dewetting process, which ultimately leads to characteristic droplet patterns. Experimental and theoretical studies suggest that the type of droplet pattern depends on the specific interfacial condition between the polymer and the substrate. Predicting the morphological evolution over long timescales and on the different length scales involved is a major computational challenge. In this study, a highly adaptive numerical scheme is presented, which allows for following the dewetting process deep into the nonlinear regime of the model equations and captures the complex dynamics, including the shedding of droplets. In addition, our numerical results predict the previously unknown shedding of satellite droplets during the destabilization of liquid ridges that form during the late stages of the dewetting process. While the formation of satellite droplets is well known in the context of elongating fluid filaments and jets, we show here that, for dewetting liquid ridges, this property can be dramatically altered by the interfacial condition between polymer and substrate, namely slip. This work shows how dissipative processes can be used to systematically tune the formation of patterns.