title: Stability Limits of Capillary Bridges: How Contact Angle Hysteresis Affects Morphology Transitions of Liquid Microstructures.
abstract: The equilibrium shape of a drop in contact with solid surfaces can undergo continuous or discontinuous transitions upon changes in either drop volume or surface energies. In many instances, such transitions involve the motion of the three-phase contact line and are thus sensitive to contact angle hysteresis. Using a combination of electrowetting-based experiments and numerical calculations, we demonstrate for a generic sphere-plate confinement geometry how contact angle hysteresis affects the mechanical stability of competing axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric drop conformations and qualitatively changes the character of transitions between them.
authors.affiliation: Physics of Complex Fluids and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Riëlle
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Ruiter
authors.affiliation: Dynamics of Complex Fluids, Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Faßberg 17, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ciro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Semprebon
authors.affiliation: Physics of Complex Fluids and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mathijs
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Gorcum
authors.affiliation: Physics of Complex Fluids and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michèl H G
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Duits
authors.affiliation: Dynamics of Complex Fluids, Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Faßberg 17, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.|Experimental Physics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brinkmann
authors.affiliation: Physics of Complex Fluids and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frieder
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mugele