title: Insoluble surfactant spreading along thin liquid films confined by chemical surface patterns.
abstract: We conducted a combined experimental and numerical study of the spreading of insoluble surfactants on spatially confined thin liquid films. We found that the spreading dynamics can locally be represented by a power-law relation x∼t(α). We determine the time evolution of the liquid film thickness and the corresponding spreading exponents α both from experiments using interference microscopy and numerical finite element simulations. The lateral confinement induces non-uniform height- and surface velocity profiles, which manifest themselves in a pronounced transition of the evolving rivulet morphology. Excellent agreement between experimental and simulation results has been achieved.
authors.affiliation: Mesoscopic Transport Phenomena Group, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Postbus 513, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: David K N
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Sinz
authors.forename: Myroslava
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hanyak
authors.forename: Jos C H
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Zeegers
authors.forename: Anton A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Darhuber
mesh_terms: D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013499:Surface Properties; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D013501:Surface-Active Agents