The Dynamics of Marangoni-Driven Local Film Drainage between Two Drops

A study of Marangoni-driven local continuous film drainage between two drops induced by an initially nonuniform interfacial distribution of insoluble surfactant is reported. Using the lubrication approximation, a coupled system of fourth-order nonlinear partial differential equations was derived to describe the spatio-temporal evolution of the continuous film thickness and surfactant interfacial concentration. Numerical solutions of these governing equations were obtained using the Numerical Method of Lines with appropriate initial and boundary conditions. A full parametric study was undertaken to explore the effect of the viscosity ratio, background surfactant concentration, the surface Péclet number, and van der Waals interaction forces on the dynamics of the draining film for the case where surfactant is present in trace amounts. Marangoni stresses were found to cause large deformations in the liquid film: Thickening of the film at the surfactant leading edge was accompanied by rapid and severe thinning far upstream. Under certain conditions, this severe thinning leads directly to film rupture due to the influence of van der Waals forces. Time scales for rupture, promoted by Marangoni-driven local film drainage were compared with those associated with the dimpling effect, which accompanies the approach of two drops, and implications of the results of this study on drop coalescence are discussed. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.