Author:
Roumpos Konstantinos,Fontaine Sarah,Pfohl Thomas,Prucker Oswald,Rühe Jürgen,Reiter Günter
Abstract
AbstractWe studied the origin of breaking the symmetry for moving circular contact lines of dewetting polymer films suspended on a periodic array of pillars. There, dewetting force fields driving polymer flow were perturbed by elastic micro-pillars arranged in a regular square pattern. Elastic restoring forces of deformed pillars locally balance driving capillary forces and broke the circular symmetry of expanding dewetting holes. The observed envelope of the dewetting holes reflected the symmetry of the underlying pattern, even at sizes much larger than the characteristic period of the pillar array, demonstrating that periodic perturbations in a driving force field can establish a well-defined pattern of lower symmetry. For the presented system, we succeeded in squaring the circle.
Funder
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC