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Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 Grenoble

Modeling of Drop Spreading on Random Surfaces


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Julie FRASSY *, 2 Christian LECOT, 1 Marilena MURAIRU, 3 Cyril Delattre, 1 Arthur SOUCEMARIANADIN 1 Universit Joseph Fourier, LEGI UMR 5519, Grenoble 2 Universit de Savoie, LAMA UMR 5127, Le Bourget-du-Lac 3 LETI, CEA Grenoble *Corresponding author: Julie.Frassy@bvra.e.ujf-grenoble.fr
Abstract: We present simulations of drops spreading on random surfaces with either chemical or topographical heterogeneities. All the computations are made within the framework of the lubrication approximation. The droplet height is the solution of a time-dependent nonlinear fourth order partial differential equation, which is solved using COMSOL. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) together with an appropriate auto-correlation function helps to generate a data set where for each surface coordinate (x,y) different heights (topographical heterogeneity) and/or different wetting angles (chemical heterogeneity) may be generated. We demonstrate that the density and the amplitude of heterogeneities have a strong influence on the spreading of the drop. Keywords: random surfaces, drop spreading, FFT, Lubrication approximation surfaces with a given auto-correlation function (ACF) and the scheme is based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) which is implemented in MATLAB. Wetting and spreading of drops on surfaces has been investigated for already some time now within the framework of lubrication theory [1]. An approximate (lubrication) equation for the evolution of the free surface of the drop has been derived assuming that inertial forces may be neglected. Through this approximation, the dimension of the problem is reduced by one thus cutting down dramatically the numerical effort needed for solving the problem. In this work, we solve the time dependent nonlinear fourth order partial differential equation that governs the evolution of the height of the drop taking advantage of the specific characteristics related to the interfacing capabilities between MATLAB and COMSOL.

1. Introduction
The dynamics of spreading drops is of interest in a wide variety of industrial applications including surface coating, ink-jet printing, cleaning processes. For instance, capillary spreading of drops is an ubiquitous phenomenon in ink-jet printing and in other processes of the graphics industry where the covering properties of liquids are important characteristics of their effectiveness. Spreading of drops on solid surfaces frequently takes place on heterogeneous surfaces, with different roughness and wetting behaviors. It is thus important to understand the influence of surface defects on the spreading of liquids. In order to mimic the heterogeneities typical of natural surfaces, a random function is generated specifying variations of the distribution of surface heights and contact angles. We restrict ourselves to the case of Gaussian distributed heterogeneities for which a specific numerical procedure for the simulation of the surfaces has been developed. This method can simulate

2. Modeling
2.1 Generation of a random surface with FFT Following Wu [2], the heights of the simulated surface can be generated by

for and . Here, M and N are the numbers of intervals in the x or y directions; Sk,l is the spectral density used to generate the surface; fk,l are random numbers uniformly distributed in the unit square. In order to obtain real zp,q, the fk,l are calculated by symmetrizing independent samples as follows:

for k = 0, 1, , M/2 and l = 0, 1, , N/2, .

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 Grenoble

If the autocorrelation function satisfies the following assumptions:

(h ) =

n m h h (n 1) (m 1) (1 cos ( e)) c(e ) * * h* (n m ) h h

then the spectral density is given by:

Similarly, the contact angles of the simulated surface can be generated by

for and . Following Hu & Tonder [3], we choose the autocorrelation function given by :

Here g is the standard deviation, dx = xl/M and dy = yl/N , xl and yl are dimensions of the physical domain ; lx and ly are the correlation lengths in the x and y direction. We then apply the same symmetrization procedure as before. Some representative examples with M=N=128 and xl=yl=100 and different correlation lengths are given below:

with h*, the height of precursor film, qe, the equilibrium contact angle and c(qe) the correcting pre-factor. For computing the spreading of a drop on chemically patterned substrates, one must take different values of the equilibrium contact angle to describe the change of wettability. In all our numerical simulations, the starting condition is a paraboloid with radius r0 and height h0 thus giving an initial contact angle with tan(0) = 2h0/r0. In order to alleviate singularities at the wetting lines, we assume a thin precursor film of height h* as a regularizing method [5]. We found that h*=10-2 is a good compromise between numerical accuracy and computational effort. All other conditions remaining the same, the case of topographical heterogeneous surfaces is then considered. This accounts to replacing p by: p = ( h + z) ( h) , where z(x,y) is the function describing the substrate height.

3. Topographical heterogeneities
The previous modeling allows us to simulate the spreading of a drop on randomly patterned substrates. We examine below the influence of roughness density and amplitude. 3.1 Influence of roughness density

Figure 1. Density of substrate height: (a) lx=ly=6; (b) lx=ly=13; (c) lx=ly=24.

We simulate the spreading of a drop for the two extreme correlation lengths given in figure 1.

2.2 Drop spreading We first consider the case of a drop spreading on a perfectly flat substrate. The fluid is Newtonian and incompressible and we neglect gravity forces because of the small size of the drops considered in this work. In this work, the following 2-D lubrication equation is taken into account h = (h3p ) t p = h ( h) Here all variables are dimensionless, h is the height of the fluid given as a function of x and y and p(h) is the corrected disjoining pressure given by (see [4] for details):

Figure 2. Transient spreading of the drop for the minimum correlation length.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 Grenoble

on Figure 3. In the second case, the same ratio is equal to 5 and the results are shown on figure 4.

Figure 3. Transient spreading of the drop for the maximum correlation length.

H topo = 20 % H goutte

Figure 4. Transient spreading of the drop for the maximum amplitude.

Note that the black and white scale represents substrate height z(x,y) and the color scale is for the drop height h(x,y). For both cases, the ratio of initial drop height h0 over the maximum height of the heterogeneities is 10 and the equilibrium contact angle is equal to 20. One can see that the spreading of the drop is hindered in the case of the maximum correlation length. Detailed results show that the maximum height of the drop at the end of the process is 22% of the initial height in the case of the larger density against 28% for the other case. Nevertheless, the drop attains in both cases the expected equilibrium contact angle (20) at the end of the spreading. At that time, a mean contact angle has been measured over 36 points at the interface. For the smallest correlation length (lx=ly=6), one gets a contact angle of value 22.49 and for the largest correlation lenght (lx=ly=24) one obtains a contact angle of value 19.15. The maximum relative error is equal to 12.5%. In spite of the hindering of spreading in the case of the maximum correlation length, the equilibrium contact angle remains practically unchanged. 3.2 Influence of roughness amplitude We simulate the spreading of a drop for two different maximum height of heterogeneities. In both cases, the equilibrium contact angle is equal to 20 and the correlation length is lx=ly=24. In the first case, the ratio of initial drop height h0 over the maximum height of the heterogeneities is equal to 10. The spreading process is depicted

One can see that the higher the heterogeneities are, the more the spreading is hindered. At the end of the process, the maximum height of the drop is 32% of the initial height in the case of the smaller amplitude against 28% for the other case. Concerning the equilibrium contact angle, some discrepancy appears when the amplitude of the heterogeneities is large since one gets a contact angle of value 23.5 at the end of the spreading which represents a difference of 17.5% compared to the theoretical value of 20.

4. Chemical heterogeneities
We examine next the influence of the density of change of wetting as well as the variation of its amplitude. Here the substrate is assumed to be perfectly flat. 4.1 Influence of wetting distribution Concerning the variation of equilibrium contact angle, the numerical results are deceptive, if the correlation length is too small (lx=ly=6 or lx=ly=13): in this case, different equilibrium contact angle are too close to each other, so that the perturbations of the profile are unperceivable. Consequently, we only consider larger correlation lengths: 17 or 30. In both cases, the amplitude of variation of the contact angle is 20.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 Grenoble

For the smallest correlation length (Figure 5), one notices a quite intricate profile. The spreading is more pronounced in the hydrophilic zones which correspond to the smallest contact angle (blue isovalues). In the case of the largest correlation length (Figure 6), the drop remains less distorted but one can see that the drop migrates towards the nearest hydrophilic zone. To summarize, two different behaviors are highlighted. For small correlation lengths, the drop looses its axisymmetric profile, it is strongly distorted and the spreading is more important towards the hydrophilic areas. For large correlation length, the drop approximately keeps its axisymmetric profile and moves towards the more wetting zones. Such behaviours has not been previously reported in the literature.
Figure 5. Transient spreading of the drop for the minimum correlation length.

4.2 Influence of wetting amplitude We now vary the amplitude between the minimum equilibrium contact angle and the maximum one. In the first computation, this amplitude is equal to 10 and in the second case, the amplitude is increased to 20. In both cases, the correlation length is taken to be 24.

Figure 6. Transient spreading of the drop for the maximum correlation length.

Figures 5 and 6 represent top views of the drop in textured grey scale. The isovalues of the contact angle (in radians) are shown with a color scale: blue curves correspond to the most wetting areas while rose-coloured curves correspond to the less wetting areas.

Figure 7. Transient spreading of the drop for the minimum amplitude between contact angles.

Excerpt from the Proceedings of the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 Grenoble

6. References
1. A. Oron, S.H. Davis and S.G. Bankoff, Longscale evolution of thin liquid films, Rev. Mod. Phys., 69, 931-980 (1997). 2. Wu, J-J, Simulation of rough surfaces with FFT, Tribology International, 33 , 4758 (2000). 3. Hu, Y.Z. and Tonder, K., Simulation of 3-D random rough surface by 2-D digital filter and Fourier analysis, Intl. J. Machine Tools Manufact., 32, 83-90 (1992). 4. Frassy, J.; Lcot, C.; Delatre, C.; Soucemarianadin, A. Modeling of Drops Spreading on Patterned Surfaces, Confrence COMSOL 2006, Paris. 5. J.A. Diez and L. Kondic, Computing threedimensional thin film flows including contact lines, J. Comput. Phys, 183, 274-306 (2002).

Figure 8. Transient spreading of the drop for the maximum amplitude between contact angles.

One notices that the lower the difference between the extreme angles is, the longer the drop preserves its axisymmetric shape. In addition, the final profile is much more distorted when the difference between the angles is important. One can note that a difference in angle of 10 is enough to produce distortions on the profile of the drop during the spreading.

Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for partial funding of this work by the Rgion Rhne-Alpes within the cluster Microlectronique, nanosciences et nanotechnologies through a research grant for J.F.

5. Conclusions
In this work, we first propose a model for constructing random heterogeneous surfaces with either topographical or chemical heterogeneities. Lubrication equation is used to consider the spreading of drops on these surfaces. We also showed that in the case of roughness variations, the height of the drop at the end of the spreading process depends on the correlation length and amplitude of heterogeneities. However, the drop attains the same equilibrium contact angle as in the case of a flat substrate. Concerning chemical heterogeneities, we highlight that the behavior of the drop strongly depends not only on parameters such as correlation lengths and amplitudes of the contact angles but also on the wetting distribution.

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