Adhesion: elastocapillary coalescence in wet hair.
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 As the brush is withdrawn, pairs of bundles aggregate successively, forming complex hierarchical patterns that depend on a balance between capillary forces and the elasticity of the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.
Bico
José
J
Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (UMR CNRS 7636), ESPCI, 75231 Paris Cedex 5, France. jbico@pmmh.espci.fr
Roman
Benoît
B
Moulin
Loïc
L
Boudaoud
Arezki
A
D004548:Elasticity; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D000267:Tissue Adhesions; D017155:Wettability