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Science 14 September 1990:
Vol. 249. no. 4974, pp. 1256 - 1260
DOI: 10.1126/science.249.4974.1256
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Articles

Spreading of Liquids on Highly Curved Surfaces

David Quéré 1, Jean-Marc di Meglio 1, and Francoise Brochard-Wyart 2

1 Physique de la Marière Condensée (UA 792 du CNRS), Collège de France, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
2 Structure et Réactivité aux Interfaces (UA 1319 du CNRS), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France

Because of surface tension, liquid films coating fibers or the insides of capillary tubes are usually unstable and break up into a periodic array of droplets. However, if these films are very thin (of thickness in the range of tens of angstroms), they can be stabilized by long-range van der Waals forces. A simple method for making such wetting films consists of slowly drawing the fiber out of a bath of liquid; the thickness of the film is then measured using a method based on gas chromatography. If these liquid films are thick, and are forced to flow, they may then not break up: the instability becomes "saturated."


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Liquid Morphologies on Structured Surfaces: From Microchannels to Microchips.
H. Gau, S. Herminghaus, P. Lenz, and R. Lipowsky (1999)
Science 283, 46-49
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Capillarity and Wetting of Carbon Nanotubes.
E. Dujardin, T. W. Ebbesen, H. Hiura, and K. Tanigaki (1994)
Science 265, 1850-1852
   Abstract »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)