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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 15, 2026

Microbubble Fabrication of Concave-porosity PDMS Beads

Microbubble Fabrication of Concave-porosity PDMS Beads

Published on: December 15, 2015

Liquid morphologies and capillary forces between three spherical beads.

Ciro Semprebon¹, Mario Scheel^1,2, Stephan Herminghaus¹

¹Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Fassberg 7, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.

Physical Review. E

|August 31, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers computed equilibrium shapes of liquid bridges between spherical beads. They found that liquid volume can lead to bistability between dimer and trimer bridge configurations, influencing capillary forces.

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Area of Science:

Physics
Materials Science
Surface Science

Background:

Understanding capillary forces is crucial in granular materials, affecting phenomena from powder flow to geological processes.
Coalesced pendular bridges, formed by liquid in the gaps between particles, significantly influence the mechanical properties of granular assemblies.

Purpose of the Study:

To compute the equilibrium shapes of coalesced pendular bridges in three-bead configurations.
To investigate the influence of gap size and liquid volume on bridge morphology and resulting capillary forces.

Main Methods:

Numerical minimization of interfacial energy to determine equilibrium shapes of liquid bridges.
Analysis of generic three-bead configurations with varying gap sizes between two beads.

Main Results:

Identified stable 'trimer' (three coalesced bridges) and 'dimer' (two coalesced bridges) morphologies.
Observed bistability between dimer and trimer configurations with changes in liquid volume for specific gap openings.
Capillary forces depend on gap opening and liquid volume (Laplace pressure), with trimer forces only slightly exceeding those of three separate pendular bridges.

Conclusions:

The study elucidates the complex interplay between geometry, liquid volume, and capillary forces in granular assemblies.
Findings support experimental observations of a plateau in capillary cohesion within the funicular regime, explaining material behavior at certain liquid saturations.