Sprecher
Beschreibung
We investigate the dewetting dynamics and the emerging
shape of micron sized liquid polystyrene droplets sitting on a
(visco-) elastic substrate with variable E-module spanning from
about 2 MPa to 1 kPa using different elastomers.
Experimentally, the droplets are images by atomic force microscopy (AFM)
while the deformation of the viscoelastic substrate can be obtained
combining AFM with a lift-off technique. The results will be compared to
theoretical predictions of a phase-field model that is coupled to finite
strain elasticity with a (conserved) Cahn-Hilliard type evolution to
understand the interplay of capillary and the nonlinear elastic forces that
determine the contact angles and the interfacial morphologies. The numerical
algorithm is based on an incremental minimization scheme and equipped with
an adaptive mesh and time refinement. This gives a tool to explore different
orders of magnitude of the capillary length.