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Updated: May 29, 2026

Film Control to Study Contributions of Waves to Droplet Impact Dynamics on Thin Flowing Liquid Films
Published on: August 18, 2018
Immiscible surfactant droplets on thin liquid films: spreading dynamics, subphase expulsion and oscillatory
David K N Sinz1, Myroslava Hanyak, Anton A Darhuber
1Mesoscopic Transport Phenomena Group, Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Postbus 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
After deposition of immiscible, surface-active liquids on thin liquid films of higher surface tension, Marangoni stresses thin the liquid film around the surfactant droplet and induce a radially outward flow. We observed an oscillatory instability, caused by temporary trapping and subsequent release of subphase liquid from underneath the surfactant droplet. Height profiles of the thin liquid films were monitored using optical interferometry and fluorescence microscopy, both in the vicinity of the deposited surfactant droplet and at larger distances. Numerical calculations based on the lubrication approximation are compared to the experimental results. Good agreement between the experimental and calculated far-field dynamics and values of the spreading exponents was found.
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