Regensburg 2002 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

SYPF: Struktur und Dynamik in dünnen Polymerfilmen

SYPF 2: Poster Session

SYPF 2.8: Poster

Thursday, March 14, 2002, 09:00–18:00, Poster B

Shape of a Liquid Front upon Dewetting — •Ralf Seemann, Stephan Herminghaus, and Karin Jacobs — Abt. Angewandte Physik, Uni Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89069 Ulm

The profile of a liquid front of a polymer film dewetting a solid substrate is examined by atomic force microscopy. The material removed from the substrate is accumulated in a rim next to the three-phase contact line. Theory predicts the leading edge of the rim profile to be a damped harmonic oszillation for a large class of systems. This is investigated experimentally for the first time, and we show that a non-Newtonian liquid behaves qualitatively different due to viscoelastic effects. It is pointed out that analysis of the rim shapes allows one to study quantitatively the rheological properties of complex fluids on a nanometer scale.