title: Adhesion: elastocapillary coalescence in wet hair.
abstract: We investigated why wet hair clumps into bundles by dunking a model brush of parallel elastic lamellae into a perfectly wetting liquid. As the brush is withdrawn, pairs of bundles aggregate successively, forming complex hierarchical patterns that depend on a balance between capillary forces and the elasticity of the lamellae. This capillary-driven self-assembly of flexible structures, which occurs in the tarsi of insects and in biomimetic adhesives but which can also damage micro-electromechanical structures or carbon nanotube 'carpets', represents a new type of coalescence process.
authors.affiliation: Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (UMR CNRS 7636), ESPCI, 75231 Paris Cedex 5, France. jbico@pmmh.espci.fr
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bico
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roman
authors.forename: Loïc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moulin
authors.forename: Arezki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boudaoud
mesh_terms: D004548:Elasticity; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D000267:Tissue Adhesions; D017155:Wettability