Meniscus instability in a thin elastic film

Creating self-organized submicrometer contact instability patterns in soft elastic bilayers with a topographically patterned stamp

The surface of a thin elastic bilayer becomes spontaneously unstable when it is brought in proximity to another rigid contactor. The instability patterns, which are random and isotropic, exhibit a dominant lateral length scale of instability λ, which linearly scales with the bilayer thickness (h) as: λ = R(F)h. It is known that for an elastic bilayer, R(F) exhibits a nonlinear dependence on the ratios of individual film thicknesses (H) and shear moduli (M) of the two constituent layers, and can have values as low as 0.5 under specific conditions. This is in contrast to a near constant value of R(F) ≈ 3 for a single layer elastic film. (1) These isotropic contact instability patterns in a bilayer can be ordered, aligned and modulated using a topographically patterned stamp. The precise morphology of the aligned structures depends on commensuration between λ and the stamp periodicity (λ(P)), and on the intersurface separation distance. A variety of patterns, like an array of circular holes, double periodic channels, etc., in addition to a positive and a negative replica of the stamp pattern, can be engineered with a simple stamp having 1D grating structure. A lower value of R(F) in a bilayer allows generating patterns with sub 500 nm lateral resolution, which is impossible to create by elastic contact lithography (ECL) of a single layer film due to strong surface tension effects in ultrathin films. Thus, control of elastic instability in a bilayer with a patterned stamp represents a flexible soft lithography tool allowing modulation of length scales, morphology, and order.

Instabilities of soft elastic microtubes filled with viscous fluids: pearls, wrinkles, and sausage strings

A linear stability analysis is presented to study the self-organized instabilities of a highly compliant elastic cylindrical shell filled with a viscous liquid and submerged in another viscous medium. The prototype closely mimics many components of micro- or nanofluidic devices and biological processes such as the budding of a string of pearls inside cells and sausage-string formation of blood vessels. The cylindrical shell is considered to be a soft linear elastic solid with small storage modulus. When the destabilizing capillary force derived from the cross-sectional curvature overcomes the stabilizing elastic and in-plane capillary forces, the microtube can spontaneously self-organize into one of several possible configurations; namely, pearling, in which the viscous fluid in the core of the elastic shell breaks up into droplets; sausage strings, in which the outer interface of the mircrotube deforms more than the inner interface; and wrinkles, in which both interfaces of the thin-walled mircrotube deform in phase with small amplitudes. This study identifies the conditions for the existence of these modes and demonstrates that the ratios of the interfacial tensions at the interfaces, the viscosities, and the thickness of the microtube play crucial roles in the mode selection and the relative amplitudes of deformations at the two interfaces. The analysis also shows asymptotically that an elastic fiber submerged in a viscous liquid is unstable for Y=γ/(G(e)R)>6 and an elastic microchannel filled with a viscous liquid should rupture to form spherical cavities (pearling) for Y>2, where γ, G(e), and R are the surface tension, elastic shear modulus, and radius, respectively, of the fiber or microchannel.

Surface wrinkling: a versatile platform for measuring thin-film properties

Surface instabilities in soft matter have been the subject of increasingly innovative research aimed at better understanding the physics of their formation and their utility in patterning, organizing, and measuring materials properties on the micro and nanoscale. The focus of this Review is on a type of instability pattern known as surface wrinkling, covering the general concepts of this phenomenon and several recent applications involving the measurement of thin-film properties. The ability of surface wrinkling to yield new insights into particularly challenging materials systems such as ultrathin films, polymer brushes, polyelectrolyte multilayer assemblies, ultrasoft materials, and nanoscale structured materials is highlighted. A perspective on the future directions of this maturing field, including the prospects for advanced thin-film metrology methods, facile surface patterning, and the control of topology-sensitive phenomena, such as wetting and adhesion, is also presented.

Embedded microstructures by electric-field-induced pattern formation in interacting thin layers

Electric-field-induced interfacial instabilities and pattern formation in a pair of interacting thin films are analyzed on the basis of linear stability analysis and long-wave nonlinear simulations. The films are coated onto two parallel plate electrodes and separated by an air gap between them. A linear stability analysis (LSA) is carried out for viscoelastic films to show that the ratios of material properties to films thickness control the length scale and timescale significantly and the presence of the second layer increases the overall capacitance and thus can lead to a smaller length scale as compared to the instability in a single film. Long-wave nonlinear analysis for interacting viscous layers indicates that the instabilities are always initiated by the antiphase squeezing rather than the in-phase bending mode of deformation at the interfaces. Nonlinear simulations on patterned electrodes show that this novel geometry for electric field patterning can be employed to generate intricate, embedded 3-D periodic patterns and to miniaturize patterns. Simulations are presented for e-molding of a number of periodic self-organized patterns such as pincushion structures, straight/corrugated embedded microchannels, and microbubbles. A few interesting examples are also shown where (1) the pathway of evolution changes without altering the equilibrium morphology when kinetic parameters such as viscous forces are changed and (2) the self-organized equilibrium morphology does not reproduce the underlying patterns on the electrodes.

A unified theory of instabilities in viscoelastic thin films: from wetting to confined films, from viscous to elastic films, and from short to long waves

A general unified theory of field (van der Waals, electric, etc.)-induced surface instabilities in thin viscoelastic films that accounts for a destabilizing field and stabilizing effects of elastic strain and surface energy is presented. The present theory seamlessly covers the instability and its different regimes in films ranging from elastic to viscous, from adhesive (confined) to wetting (free surface), and from short- to long-wave instabilities. The critical conditions for the onset of instability are found to be strongly dependent on elastic properties such as the shear modulus of the film, but the dominant wavelength is strikingly independent of the film rheology. Different regimes based on a nondimensional parameter (gamma/mu h) are uncovered, where gamma is the surface energy, mu is the elastic shear modulus, and h is the film thickness. A short-wave, elasticlike response with wavelength lambda approximately = 2.96 h is obtained for gamma/mu h < 0.1, whereas long waves that depend nonlinearly on the field strength and surface energy are obtained for gamma/mu h > 1. Owing to their small critical thickness, wetting films destabilized by intermolecular forces always display long-wave instability regardless of their viscoelasticity. Furthermore, our numerical simulations based on energy minimization for unstable wetting elastic films show the formation of islands for ultrathin films and a morphological phase transition to holes embedded in the film for relatively thicker films. Unlike viscous films, however, unstable elastic films do not display a unique dominant wavelength but a bimodal distribution of wavelengths.

Simple view on fingering instability of debonding soft elastic adhesives

We study the crack-front fingering instability of an elastic adhesive tape that is peeled off a solid substrate. Our analysis is based on an energy approach using fracture mechanics and scaling laws and provides simple physical explanations for (i) the fact that the wavelength depends only on the thickness of the adhesive film and (ii) the threshold of the instability, and (iii) additionally estimates the characteristic size of the fingers. The scaling laws for these three observables are in agreement with existing experimental data.

Electric-field-induced patterns in soft viscoelastic films: from long waves of viscous liquids to short waves of elastic solids

We show that the electric field driven surface instability of viscoelastic films has two distinct regimes: (1) The viscoelastic films behaving like a liquid display long wavelengths governed by applied voltage and surface tension, independent of its elastic storage and viscous loss moduli, and (2) the films behaving like a solid require a threshold voltage for the instability whose wavelength always scales as approximately 4xfilm thickness, independent of its surface tension, applied voltage, loss and storage moduli. Wavelength in a narrow transition zone between these regimes depends on the storage modulus.

Surface wrinkling of an elastic film: effect of residual surface stress

The effect of residual surface compression on the surface evolution of solid thin films was analyzed. Analytical relation was derived among the apparent surface stress, the spatial frequency of the surface modulation, and the film thickness. Using this relationship, we calculated the dependence of the apparent surface stress on the film thickness from the experimental results of the polymer resist coated on glass slide. The magnitude of the apparent surface stress decreased with the reduction in the film thickness, and it approached a constant of 0.46 kN/m as the thickness of the films approached zero. The result is possibly applied to nanoimprint technology.

Pattern formation during deformation of a confined viscoelastic layer: from a viscous liquid to a soft elastic solid

We study pattern formation during tensile deformation of confined viscoelastic layers. The use of a model system [poly(dimethylsiloxane) with different degrees of cross-linking] allows us to go continuously from a viscous liquid to an elastic solid. We observe two distinct regimes of fingering instabilities: a regime called "elastic" with interfacial crack propagation, where the fingering wavelength scales only with the film thickness, and a bulk regime called "viscoelastic," where the fingering instability shows a Saffman-Taylor-like behavior. We find good quantitative agreement with theory in both cases and present a reduced parameter describing the transition between the two regimes and allowing us to predict the observed patterns over the whole range of viscoelastic properties.

The liquid blister test

We consider a thin elastic sheet adhering to a stiff substrate by means of the surface tension of a thin liquid layer. Debonding is initiated by imposing a vertical displacement at the centre of the sheet and leads to the formation of a delaminated region or ‘blister’. This experiment reveals that the perimeter of the blister takes one of three different forms depending on the vertical displacement imposed. As this displacement is increased, we observe first circular, then undulating and finally triangular blisters. We obtain theoretical predictions for the observed features of each of these three families of blisters. The theory is built upon the Föppl–von Kármán equations for thin elastic plates and accounts for the surface energy of the liquid. We find good quantitative agreement between our theoretical predictions and experimental results, demonstrating that all three families are governed by different balances between elastic and capillary forces. Our results may bear on micrometric tapered devices and other systems, where elastic and adhesive forces are in competition.

Electric-field induced instabilities and morphological phase transitions in soft elastic films

We investigate the morphological transitions of surface patterns induced in a soft elastic film in the presence of an applied electric field by the linear stability analysis and simulations. The surface patterns emerge beyond a critical strength of the electric field and the pattern length scale is always nearly three times the film thickness, regardless of the precise pattern morphology and other physical parameters. Interestingly, the simulations show that the precise pattern morphology depends strongly on the film and the field parameters and can be classified into three broad morphological phases: columns, stripes, and cavities. By tuning the electric field and the gap distance, we show that transitions from one morphological phase to another can be induced as described by a morphological phase diagram for this phenomenon. We also study the conditions under which the transitions can be "glassy" or "hysteretic." In addition to uncovering the rich physics underlying these nearly two-dimensional morphological phase transitions, our simulations also suggest experiments and applications of this phenomenon in mesopatterning. In particular, simulations demonstrate the possibility of controlling the pattern morphology and alignment by using the electric-field induced instability in soft elastic films. Unlike the short range adhesive interactions which cannot be varied, the use of an electric field allows far greater flexibility in modulation and control of the pattern morphology and its height.

Contact instability of thin elastic films on patterned substrates

The free surface of a soft elastic film becomes unstable and forms an isotropic labyrinth pattern when a rigid flat plate is brought into adhesive contact with the film. These patterns have a characteristic wavelength, lambda approximately 3H, where H is the film thickness. We show that these random structures can be ordered, modulated, and aligned by depositing the elastic film (cross-linked polydimethylsiloxane) on a patterned substrate and by bringing the free surface of the film in increasing adhesive contact with a flat stamp. Interestingly, the influence of the substrate "bleeds" through the film to its free surface. It becomes possible to generate complex two-dimensional ordered structures such as an array of femtoliter beakers even by using a simple one-dimensional stripe patterned substrate when the instability wavelength, lambda approximately 3H, nearly matches the substrate pattern periodicity. The free surface morphology is modulated in situ by merely varying the stamp-surface separation distance. The free surface structures originating from the elastic contact instability can also be made permanent by the UV-ozone induced oxidation and stiffening.

Studying friction and shear fracture in thin confined films using a rotational shear apparatus

This paper describes the effects of the elastic modulus and sliding velocity on the friction and shear fracture of smooth silanized rigid disks rotating against thin confined films of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomers. A rigid glass disk is rotated against thin PDMS films of different thicknesses and moduli bonded to a glass plate at various speeds. While the disk rotates on the PDMS coated glass plate, a load cell measures the resulting force with a cantilever beam. One end of the cantilever beam is glued to the glass plate, while its other end presses against a load cell. From the balance of forces and torques, the friction force at a given slip velocity is determined. The friction force increases with the slip velocity sublinearly, which is consistent with the results reported previously by Vorvolakos and Chaudhury (Langmuir 2003, 19, 6778). During rotation, however, the glass disk comes off the PDMS film when the shear stress reaches a critical value. This critical shear stress increases with the modulus of the film, but it decreases with its thickness, following a square root relationship, which is similar to the adhesive fracture behavior in thin films under pull-off conditions. A simple model is presented that captures the essential physics of the fracture behavior under shear mode.

Surface instability of confined elastic bilayers: Theory and simulations

The surface of a soft elastic film becomes unstable and forms a self-organized undulating pattern because of adhesive interactions when it comes in contact proximity with a rigid surface. For a single film, the pattern length scale lambda , which is governed by the minimization of the elastic stored energy, gives lambda approximately 3h , where h is the film thickness. Based on a linear stability analysis and simulations of adhesion and debonding, we consider the contact instability of an elastic bilayer, which provides greater flexibility in the morphological control of interfacial instability. Unlike the case of a single film, the morphology of the contact instability patterns, debonding distance, and debonding force in a bilayer can be controlled in a nonlinear way by varying the thicknesses and shear moduli of the films. Interestingly, the pattern wavelength in a bilayer can be greatly increased or decreased compared to a single film when the adhesive contact is formed by the stiffer or the softer of the two films, respectively. In particular, lambda as small as 0.5h can be obtained. This indicates a new strategy for pattern miniaturization in elastic contact lithography.

Shear-induced adhesive failure of a rigid slab in contact with a thin confined film

A rigid-glass prism (square or rectangular base, rectangular cross-section) is sheared off a thin film of silicone elastomer bonded to a glass plate by applying a tangential force at various distances above the prism/elastomer interface. At a given tangential force, the prism starts to slide on the elastomeric film. As the sliding velocity, thus the frictional force, is progressively increased, an elastic instability develops at the interface that results in the formation of numerous bubbles. These bubbles, the lateral dimension of which is comparable to the thickness of the film, move across the interface with speeds 1000 times faster than the overall sliding speed of the glass prism against the PDMS film. It is found that the glass prism continues to slide on the elastomeric film as long as the applied shear stress is less than a critical value. During sliding, however, a normal stress is developed at the interface that decays from the front (i.e. where the force is applied) to the rear end of the prism. When the normal stress reaches a critical value, the prism comes off the film. The critical shear stress of fracture increases with the modulus of the film, but decreases with the thickness following a square root relationship, as is the case with the removal of rigid punches from thin elastomeric films by normal pull-off forces.

Transient interfacial patterns and instabilities associated with liquid film adhesion and spreading

A surface force apparatus was used to study surface shape changes during the adhesion and spreading of a polymer melt on a bare mica surface. Transient fingers were observed during the initial, rapid spreading process, pointing radially out from the initial adhesive contact point. The fingers had microscopic widths and lengths but submicroscopic thicknesses. They eventually disappeared, leaving a more slowly growing circular neck with a smooth, featureless polymer-air surface. The mean radius of the spreading meniscus (neck) was found to follow a scaling relationship with time of the form (ri + ro)/2 proportional, variant tn, with n = 0.128, while the ends of the fingers grew according to ro proportional, variant tn, with n = 0.10. These rates agree with the values of n = 0.100-0.125 predicted by classical wetting theories for circular macroscopic droplets (i.e., radially symmetric, without fingers) spreading on a solid surface. The lifetime of the transient fingering patterns increases with the polymer viscosity as tau proportional, variant etan, with n = 2.1 +/- 0.2. A circular trough or depression in the film was observed just beyond where the fingers ended, which appears to be a source of the material for the advancing fingers. In addition, beyond the trough, circular ripples/waves were observed on the polymer melt film surface. Such patterns may arise quite generally whenever a perturbation occurs that changes the local forces, thereby inducing a bulge or depression in a liquid film or surface. Thus, we observe similar fingers and ripples/waves during the spreading of liquid polybutadiene on (the immiscible and more viscous) liquid poly(dimethylsiloxane), suggesting that the phenomenon may exist in various liquid adhesion and spreading situations. For low viscosity liquids such as water and low molecular weight oils, our scaling relations suggest that the transient patterns will exist for only a few microseconds; this is likely the reason for why they have not yet been observed.

Effect of interfacial slippage in peel test: theoretical model

Peel test is an efficient method to assess the performance and characteristics of materials such as adhesives and adhesive tapes. Recent experiments evidenced that the measured adhesive strength is closely related to the shear-induced interfacial slippage near the delamination front due to the concomitant Poisson contraction effect of the adhesive. Based on the experimental observations, a theoretical model is presented in this paper to examine the effect of the shear-induced interfacial slippage in the peel test. The influence of the interfacial slippage, represented by the shear displacement in the cohesive zone, on the fracture energy of decohesive zone is analyzed. An implicit expansion method with a Gauss-Chebyshev quadrature scheme is used to derive the solution. It is found that the length of the slippage zone and the receding contact angle of adhesives are the two most significant contributors to the total fracture energy of the decohesive zone. These results demonstrate that the mechanism of interfacial slippage plays a significant role in the adhesion and peeling behaviors of adhesives.

Transient surface patterns during adhesion and coalescence of thin liquid films

Surface deformations during the coalescence of two polymer melt films were studied by use of a surface forces apparatus (SFA). Well-ordered periodic surface ripple/finger patterns were observed during the adhesion and coalescence, which eventually disappeared, leaving smooth polymer-air interfaces. The life-times of these transient well-ordered patterns depend on the viscosity and film thickness of the polymer melts. These observations are in contrast to the conventional understanding that liquid-liquid coalescence usually occurs with the deforming surfaces remaining smoothly curved at all stages, with no esoteric shape-transitions. The results reveal a new feature associated with liquid-liquid adhesion/coalescence, which may be of key importance for a full understanding of coalescence processes. We propose an explanation for the observed phenomenon in terms of simple physical concepts, and discuss other microscopic and macroscopic (including biological) systems where similar effects are likely to occur.

Self-organization of nano-lines and dots triggered by a local mechanical stimulus

When a local mechanical perturbation is applied to the surface of a thin film of a mechanically interlocked molecule (a rotaxane), the molecules self-organize into periodic arrays of discrete dots or lines. The dimensionality of the nanostructures depends on whether the mechanical stimulus acts along a 1D line or over a 2D area. The size (50-500 nm) and periodicity (100-600 nm) of the patterns are controlled solely by the film thickness. This self-organization at the mesoscopic scale occurs via a nucleation-ripening mechanism eased by the relatively low energy barriers of the intramolecular rearrangement introduced by the mechanical bond. The phenomenon can be exploited as a bottom-up nanofabrication method.

Dynamics of the peel front and the nature of acoustic emission during peeling of an adhesive tape

We investigate the peel front dynamics and acoustic emission (AE) of an adhesive tape within the context of a recent model by including an additional dissipative energy that mimics bursts of acoustic signals. We find that the nature of the peeling front can vary from a smooth to a stuck-peeled configuration depending on the values of dissipation coefficient, inertia of the roller, and mass of the tape. Interestingly, we find that the distribution of AE bursts shows power law statistics with two scaling regimes with increasing pull velocity as observed in experiments. In these regimes, the stuck-peeled configuration is similar to the "edge of peeling" reminiscent of a system driven to a critical state.

Roles of discontinuities in bio-inspired adhesive pads

Morphological intricacies of the biological attachment pads generate considerable interest owing to their remarkable ability to control adhesion to various surfaces. Motivated by the adhesive microstructures of insects, we examine the behaviour of adhesion and crack propagation in patterned adhesive films. These films are made of silicone elastomers that were patterned with lateral, longitudinal or crosswise incisions from which a thin silanized glass plate was removed in a displacement-controlled peel experiment. The behaviours of crack propagation on these patterned adhesive films are controlled by simple incision patterns, their depths and spacing. With the crosswise incisions, significant enhancement (x10-20) of fracture energy has been achieved. These findings point towards an important mechanism by which of biological organisms might enhance adhesion, and provide a simple design principle for manipulating the interfacial fracture in a variety of artificial attachment devices.

Control of self-organized contact instability and patterning in soft elastic films

The surface of a soft elastic film becomes unstable and forms a labyrinth pattern when a rigid flat plate is brought into adhesive contact, without application of any external pressure. These isotropic undulations have a characteristic wavelength, lambda approximately 3H, where H is the film thickness. We present here technique of ordering, aligning, and modulating these micro-labyrinth structures by using a patterned stamp, by varying the stamp-film inter-surface distance, by a lateral confinement of the instability and even by a simple shear motion of a flat stamp. Many complex structures, such as an array of femto-liter beakers and doubly periodic channels, are generated from a simple stamp consisting of parallel channels. The elastic nature of the patterns allows an in-situ tuning, manipulation, and reconfiguration of the microstructures. Regardless of their precise morphology, the structures continue to have the elastic length scale, lambda approximately 3H. The structures can also be made permanent as required by UV-ozone-induced oxidation of the structures. The underlying principles of the elastic contact instability presented here have the potential to develop into a new soft lithography technique-elastic contact lithography (ECL), allowing a simple, rapid and large area patterning of soft solids.

Contact instability in adhesion and debonding of thin elastic films

Based on experiments and 3D simulations, we show that a soft elastic film during adhesion and debonding from a rigid flat surface undergoes morphological transitions to pillars, labyrinths, and cavities, all of which have the same lateral pattern length scale, lambda close to lambda/H approximately 3 for thick films, H > 1 microm . The linear stability analysis and experiments show a new thin film regime where lambda/H approximately equal to 3 + 2pi(lambda/3 muH)1/4 (gamma is surface tension, mu is shear modulus) because of a significant surface energy penalty (for example, lambda/H approximately equal to 6 for H = 200 nm; mu = 1 MPa).

Instability and dynamics of thin viscoelastic liquid films

The instability, rupture, and subsequent growth of holes in a thin Jeffreys-type viscoelastic film under the influence of long-range van der Waals force are investigated using both linear stability analysis and nonlinear numerical solutions. The linear stability analysis of full governing equations valid for arbitrary wave numbers shows that although fluid rheology does not influence the dominant length scale of the instability, it significantly affects the growth rate. It is shown that neglect of inertia and solvent dynamics results in a nonphysical singularity in the growth rate beyond a critical value of relaxation time. We further carry out numerical simulations of a set of long-wave, nonlinear differential equations (also derived in Rauscher et al., Eur. Phys. J. E 17, 373 (2005)) governing the evolution of the free surface. The nonlinear simulations, in their domain of validity, confirm the results of the linear analysis. Interestingly, results from nonlinear simulations further show that both for Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids, the shape and the dewetting dynamics of a hole are identical when examined in terms of a rescaled time which depends on rheological parameters. Thus, viscoelasticity of Jeffreys type merely accelerates the growth rate, without however affecting the important morphological characteristics.

Crack-front instability in a confined elastic film

We study the undulatory instability of a straight crack front generated by peeling a flexible elastic plate from a thin elastomeric adhesive film. We show that there is a threshold for the onset of the instability that is dependent on the ratio of two length-scales that arise naturally in the problem: the thickness of the film and an elastic length defined by the stiffness of the plate and that of the film. A linear stability analysis predicts that the wavelength of the instability scales linearly with the film thickness. Our results are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with recent experiments, and show how crack fronts may lose stability due to a competition between bulk and surface effects in the presence of multiple length scales.

Confinement-induced instability and adhesive failure between dissimilar thin elastic films

When two thin soft elastomeric films are separated from each other, an elastic instability develops at the interface. Although similar instability develops for the case of a soft film separating from a rigid adherent, there are important differences in the two cases. For the single-film case, the wavelength of instability is independent of any material properties of the system, and it scales only with thickness of the film. For the two-film case, a co-operative instability mode develops, which is a non-linear function of the thicknesses and the elastic moduli of both films. We investigate the development of such instability by energy minimization procedures. Understanding the nature of this instability is important, as it affects the adhesive compliance of the system and thus the energy release rate in the debonding of soft interfaces.

Confinement-induced instability of thin elastic film

A confined incompressible elastic film does not deform uniformly when subjected to adhesive interfacial stresses but with undulations which have a characteristic wavelength scaling linearly with the thickness of the film. In the classical peel geometry, undulations appear along the contact line below a critical film thickness or below a critical curvature of the plate. Perturbation analysis of the stress equilibrium equations shows that for a critically confined film the total excess energy indeed attains a minimum for a finite amplitude of the perturbations which grow with further increase in the confinement.

Peeling off an elastica from a smooth attractive substrate

Using continuum mechanics, we study theoretically the unbinding of an inextensible rod with free ends attracted by a smooth substrate and submitted to a vertical force. We use the elastica model in a medium-range van der Waals potential. We numerically solve a nonlinear boundary value problem and obtain the force-stretching relation at zero temperature. We obtain the critical force for which the rod unbinds from the substrate as a function of three dimensionless parameters, and we find two different regimes of adhesion. We study analytically the contact potential case as the van der Waals radius goes to zero.

Adhesion and debonding of soft elastic films: crack patterns, metastable pathways, and forces

We study the phenomenon of debonding in a thin soft elastic film sandwiched between two rigid plates as one of the plates is brought into intimate contact and then pulled away from contact proximity by application of a normal force. Nonlinear simulations based on minimization of total energy (composed of stabilizing elastic strain energy and destabilizing adhesive interaction energy) are employed to address the problems of contact hysteresis, cavitation, crack morphology, variation of contact area, snap-off distance, pull-off force, work done, and energy loss. Below a critical distance (d(c)) upon approach, simulations show the formation of columnar structures and nonrandom, regularly arranged nanocavities at the soft interface at a length scale of approximately 3h (h being the thickness of the film). The persistence of such instability upon withdrawal (distance >>d(c)) indicates a contact hysteresis, which is caused by an energy barrier that separates the metastable states of the patterned configuration and the global minimum state of the flat film. The energy and the pull-off force are found to be nonequilibrium and nonunique properties depending on the initial contact, defects, noise, etc. Three broad pathways of debonding leading to adhesive failure of the interface, depending on the stiffness of the film, step size of withdrawal, and the imposed noise, are identified: a catastrophic column collapse mode, a peeling mode involving a continuous decrease in the contact area, and a column splitting mode. The first two modes are caused by a very high stress concentration near the cavity edges. These metastable patterned configurations engender pull-off forces that are orders of magnitude smaller than that required to separate two flat surfaces from contact.

The influence of elastic modulus and thickness on the release of the soft-fouling green alga Ulva linza (syn. Enteromorpha linza) from poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) model networks

The effect of modulus and film thickness on the release of adhered spores and sporelings (young plants) of the green fouling alga Ulva (syn. Enteromorpha) was investigated. PDMS elastomers of constant thickness (100 microm) but different elastic moduli were prepared by varying cross-link density with functional silicone oligomers with degrees of polymerization ranging from 18-830. This provided a 50-fold range of modulus values between 0.2 and 9.4 MPa. Three PDMS coatings of different thicknesses were tested at constant elastic modulus (0.8 MPa). The data revealed no significant increase in percentage spore removal except at the lowest modulus of 0.2 MPa although sporelings released more readily at all but the highest modulus. The influence of coating thickness was also greater for the release of sporelings compared to spores. The release data are discussed in the light of fracture mechanics models that have been applied to hard fouling. New concepts appertaining to the release of soft fouling organisms are proposed, which take into account the deformation in the adhesive base of the adherand and deformation of the PDMS film.

Force response of a viscous liquid in a probe-tack geometry: fingering versus cavitation

We perform traction experiments on viscous liquids highly confined between parallel plates, a geometry known as the probe-tack test in the adhesion community. Direct observation during the experiment coupled to force measurement shows the existence of several mechanisms for releasing the stress: while fingering is favored for low traction velocities, low confinement and low viscosity, nucleation of bubbles occurs in the opposite conditions. It is possible to quantitatively predict the transition between the two regimes and, in many respects, describe the shape of the force response. Using a model for purely viscous fluids, we also present a phase diagram for the different force peak regimes that remarkably accounts for the data. Our results show that conspicuous features of the traction curve commonly thought to be characteristic of soft viscoelastic solids like adhesives are already encountered in liquid materials.

Solvent-driven dewetting and rim instability

An experimental method suitable for reproducible results has been used to investigate dewetting behavior of thin films of solvent-laden polymer. This solvent-driven dewetting enables one to change spreading coefficient by an order of magnitude that is not readily realizable in thermal dewetting and to study polar interactions that have not been fully exploited experimentally. While the film instability is similar to that found in thermal dewetting, the rim instability is quite different. Two different types of the rim instability have been found. With a polar solvent, the rim instability changes from one type to another with increasing film thickness whereas the unstable rim becomes stable for an apolar solvent.

Effects of geometric confinement on the adhesive debonding of soft elastic solids

The effect of increasing confinement on soft elastic gel layers has been investigated and a means of analyzing the behavior of such systems has been developed. A probe tack test was used to study the behavior of thin elastic layers during interfacial debonding from a cylindrical glass indenter. For this gel-indenter system, confinement is defined as the ratio of a(0), the radius of the indenter, to h, the thickness of the elastic layer. In order to investigate geometric effects, the adhesion energy of the gel was kept constant while the thickness and modulus of the gels were varied. A fracture mechanics approach, based on the compliance of the layer, has been employed in analyzing the experimental data. It is shown that a fracture mechanics analysis is appropriate for these systems, allowing quantitative results to be obtained, despite very irregular contacts. It has also been shown that the interfacial instabilities observed during debonding maximize the compliance of the elastic layer. Additionally, four dimensionless parameters that dictate the behavior of confined systems have been defined, offering a general guide to understanding and characterizing the mechanical behavior of thin elastic layers.

Some fundamentals of adhesion in synthetic adhesives

Various adhesion mechanisms that have been understood in the field of synthetic adhesives are described and these are linked with situations relevant to fouling issues. The review mainly deals with mechanical aspects of adhesion phenomena, with an emphasis on the role of the elasticity of the bodies, called substrata, attached by adhesive. The consequences of thin film geometry of the adhesive material are described, such as various heterogeneous deformations upon traction. The importance of the bonding process is discussed, as well as some examples of non-wetting surfaces. Some basic ideas of fracture mechanics are provided and in particular, the behavior of layered systems is discussed. Rolling sticky objects and peeled (flexible) adhesive tapes display similar mechanisms and it is shown how they differ from the normal separation of rigid bodies. Some issues directly related to fouling issues are also discussed, such as forces and torques acting on shells, the advantages of gregarious settlement behavior and concepts for fouling release and antifouling.

Spontaneous surface roughening induced by surface interactions between two compressible elastic films

The surfaces of soft thin elastic films bonded to two rigid substrates become spontaneously rough due to the attractive intersurface interactions when the intersurface distance declines sufficiently to produce a critical force. The effects of compressibility on the conditions for surface roughening and its length scale are investigated. For highly compressible films (nu less than 0.25), surface roughening is not possible. The critical force required for the onset of instability and its wave number both decline with increased compressibility. The wavelength of the instability is influenced much more by the properties of the more compliant film [compliance equals (1-2nu)h/2mu(1-nu)]. There is an abrupt change in the wavelength as the compliances of the two films become nearly equal.