Nonlinear instabilities and pathways of rupture in thin liquid bilayers

A long-wave nonlinear analysis of dewetting of thin (< 100 nm) liquid bilayers on solid substrates is presented. The short and the long time dynamics, interfacial morphologies, and the pathways of rupture and dewetting are studied to assess the roles of interfacial energies, film thicknesses, and viscosities. The twin interfaces (liquid-liquid and liquid-air) of bilayers under the influence of attractive van der Waals forces show a variety of dewetting pathways which, depending on the interfacial energies and film thicknesses, initially start with one of the two basic modes of instability-in-phase bending and out-of-phase squeezing. These short time modes of evolution and the extent of relative deformations at the interfaces are predicted from the linear stability analysis and verified by the nonlinear simulations. Simulations also show that in the later nonlinear regime, the intermolecular and viscous forces can profoundly modify the initial mode of instability and its growth rate leading to different pathways of dewetting and late stage morphologies. The complex late time patterns such as embedded droplets, inversion of top and bottom phases, and encapsulation of one fluid into the other are also engendered by tuning the intermolecular forces. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.