Fractal Dewetting

The adhesiveness of a liquid film between two plates is studied by examine the dewetting fractal pattern of the film as the two plates are pulled apart. We find that the fractal pattern reduces the adhesiveness and accelerates the detachment time by a universal factor. The fractal pattern develops due to a shielding mechanism of the air fingers that invade radially inward. A sample scaling theory for the fractals yields the above universal factor.

Representative Publication: [135]