Droplets move over viscoelastic substrates by surfing a ridge

S. Karpitschka (), S. Das, M. van Gorcum, H. Perrin, B. Andreotti () and J. H. Snoeijer ()
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S. Karpitschka: Physics of Fluids Group, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mesa+ Institute, University of Twente
S. Das: University of Maryland
M. van Gorcum: Physics of Fluids Group, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mesa+ Institute, University of Twente
H. Perrin: Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes, UMR 7636 ESPCI-CNRS, Université Paris-Diderot
B. Andreotti: Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes, UMR 7636 ESPCI-CNRS, Université Paris-Diderot
J. H. Snoeijer: Physics of Fluids Group, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mesa+ Institute, University of Twente

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Liquid drops on soft solids generate strong deformations below the contact line, resulting from a balance of capillary and elastic forces. The movement of these drops may cause strong, potentially singular dissipation in the soft solid. Here we show that a drop on a soft substrate moves by surfing a ridge: the initially flat solid surface is deformed into a sharp ridge whose orientation angle depends on the contact line velocity. We measure this angle for water on a silicone gel and develop a theory based on the substrate rheology. We quantitatively recover the dynamic contact angle and provide a mechanism for stick–slip motion when a drop is forced strongly: the contact line depins and slides down the wetting ridge, forming a new one after a transient. We anticipate that our theory will have implications in problems such as self-organization of cell tissues or the design of capillarity-based microrheometers.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8891

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