Issue 23, 2010
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Capillary forces between soft, elastic spheres

Hans-Jürgen Butt,*a   W. Jon P. Barnes,b   Aranzazu del Campo,a   Michael Kappla  and  Friedhelm Schönfeldc  

* Corresponding authors

a Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, Mainz, Germany
E-mail: butt@mpip-mainz.mpg.de
Fax: +49-6131-379-310
Tel: +49-6131-379 111

b Centre for Cell Engineering, University of Glasgow, Joseph Black Building, Glasgow, UK

c Hochschule RheinMain, Ingenieurwissenschaften,, Am Brückweg 26, Rüsselsheim, Germany

Abstract

The adhesive capillary force between two elastic spheres or a sphere and a plane is usually described by Fadh = 4πR*, where γ is the surface tension of the liquid and R* is the effective radius of the sphere(s). With approximate analytical calculations we show that for soft materials and radii larger than 5r3E2/γ2 (r: radius of curvature of the liquid and E: Young's modulus) the capillary force increases more steeply and scales with R*2. This result is confirmed by finite element simulations. It may be relevant for an understanding of bioadhesion of insects and tree frogs and for an understanding of film formation from dispersions of soft particles.

Graphical abstract: Capillary forces between soft, elastic spheres

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C0SM00455C
Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 May 2010
Accepted
26 Aug 2010
First published
20 Sep 2010

Soft Matter, 2010,6, 5930-5936

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Capillary forces between soft, elastic spheres

H. Butt, W. J. P. Barnes, A. del Campo, M. Kappl and F. Schönfeld, Soft Matter, 2010, 6, 5930 DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00455C

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