Interface morphologies in liquid/liquid dewetting

Abstract

The dynamics and morphology of a liquid polystyrene (PS) film on the scale of a hundred nanometer dewetting from a liquid polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) film is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The polymers considered here are both below their entanglement lengths and have negligible elastic properties. A theoretical model based on viscous Newtonian flow for both polymers is set up from which a system of coupled lubrication equations is derived and solved numerically. A direct comparison of the numerical solution with the experimental findings for the characteristic signatures of the cross-sections of liquid/air and liquid/liquid phase boundaries of the dewetting rims as well as the dewetting rates is performed and discussed for various viscosity ratios of the PS and PMMA layers.