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Research Article

Anisotropic Drop Morphologies on Corrugated Surfaces

H. Kusumaatmaja ^†, R. J. Vrancken^‡, C. W. M. Bastiaansen^‡ and J. M. Yeomans^†

The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Oxford University, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom, and Chemical Engineering and Chemistry Department, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven 5600 MB, The Netherlands

Langmuir, 2008, 24 (14), pp 7299–7308

DOI: 10.1021/la800649a

Publication Date (Web): June 12, 2008

†

Oxford University.

‡

Eindhoven University of Technology.

Abstract

The spreading of liquid drops on surfaces corrugated with micrometer-scale parallel grooves is studied both experimentally and numerically. Because of the surface patterning, the typical final drop shape is no longer spherical. The elongation direction can be either parallel or perpendicular to the direction of the grooves, depending on the initial drop conditions. We interpret this result as a consequence of both the anisotropy of the contact line movement over the surface and the difference in the motion of the advancing and receding contact lines. Parallel to the grooves, we find little hysteresis due to the surface patterning and that the average contact angle approximately conforms to Wenzel’s law as long as the drop radius is much larger than the typical length scale of the grooves. Perpendicular to the grooves, the contact line can be pinned at the edges of the ridges, leading to large contact angle hysteresis.

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