Stability of soap films: hysteresis and nucleation of black films

V. Castelletto; I. Cantat; Dipak Sarker; R. Bausch; D. Bonn; J. Meunier

Stability of soap films: hysteresis and nucleation of black films

V. Castelletto, I. Cantat, Dipak Sarker, R. Bausch, D. Bonn, J. Meunier

University of Brighton

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Abstract

We study the stability of soap films of a nonionic surfactant under different applied capillary pressures on the film. Depending on the pressure, either a thick common black film (CBF), or a microscopically thin Newton black film (NBF) is formed as a (metastable) equilibrium state, with a first-order (discontinuous) transition between the two. Studying the dynamics of the CBF-NBF transition, it is found that under certain conditions a hysteresis for the transition is observed: for a given range of pressures, either of the two states may be observed. We quantify the nucleation process that is at the basis of these observations both experimentally and theoretically.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	0483021-0483024
Number of pages	4
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	90
Issue number	4
Publication status	Published - Jan 2003

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title = "Stability of soap films: hysteresis and nucleation of black films",

abstract = "We study the stability of soap films of a nonionic surfactant under different applied capillary pressures on the film. Depending on the pressure, either a thick common black film (CBF), or a microscopically thin Newton black film (NBF) is formed as a (metastable) equilibrium state, with a first-order (discontinuous) transition between the two. Studying the dynamics of the CBF-NBF transition, it is found that under certain conditions a hysteresis for the transition is observed: for a given range of pressures, either of the two states may be observed. We quantify the nucleation process that is at the basis of these observations both experimentally and theoretically.",

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T1 - Stability of soap films: hysteresis and nucleation of black films

AU - Castelletto, V.

AU - Cantat, I.

AU - Sarker, Dipak

AU - Bausch, R.

AU - Bonn, D.

AU - Meunier, J.

PY - 2003/1

Y1 - 2003/1

N2 - We study the stability of soap films of a nonionic surfactant under different applied capillary pressures on the film. Depending on the pressure, either a thick common black film (CBF), or a microscopically thin Newton black film (NBF) is formed as a (metastable) equilibrium state, with a first-order (discontinuous) transition between the two. Studying the dynamics of the CBF-NBF transition, it is found that under certain conditions a hysteresis for the transition is observed: for a given range of pressures, either of the two states may be observed. We quantify the nucleation process that is at the basis of these observations both experimentally and theoretically.

AB - We study the stability of soap films of a nonionic surfactant under different applied capillary pressures on the film. Depending on the pressure, either a thick common black film (CBF), or a microscopically thin Newton black film (NBF) is formed as a (metastable) equilibrium state, with a first-order (discontinuous) transition between the two. Studying the dynamics of the CBF-NBF transition, it is found that under certain conditions a hysteresis for the transition is observed: for a given range of pressures, either of the two states may be observed. We quantify the nucleation process that is at the basis of these observations both experimentally and theoretically.

M3 - Article

VL - 90

SP - 483021

EP - 483024

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

SN - 0031-9007

IS - 4

ER -