Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.

The protein hydrophobin HFBII self-assembles into very elastic films at the surface of water; these films wrinkle readily upon compression. We demonstrate and study this wrinkling instability in the context of non-planar interfaces by forming HFBII layers at the surface of bubbles whose interfaces a...

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Main Authors: Aumaitre, E, Knoche, S, Cicuta, P, Vella, D
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2013
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author Aumaitre, E
Knoche, S
Cicuta, P
Vella, D
author_facet Aumaitre, E
Knoche, S
Cicuta, P
Vella, D
author_sort Aumaitre, E
collection OXFORD
description The protein hydrophobin HFBII self-assembles into very elastic films at the surface of water; these films wrinkle readily upon compression. We demonstrate and study this wrinkling instability in the context of non-planar interfaces by forming HFBII layers at the surface of bubbles whose interfaces are then compressed by deflation of the bubble. By varying the initial concentration of the hydrophobin solutions, we are able to show that buckling occurs at a critical packing fraction of protein molecules on the surface. Independent experiments show that at this packing fraction the interface has a finite positive surface tension, and not zero surface tension as is usually assumed at buckling. We attribute this non-zero wrinkling tension to the finite elasticity of these interfaces. We develop a simple geometrical model for the evolution of the wrinkle length with further deflation and show that wrinkles grow rapidly near the needle (used for deflation) towards the mid-plane of the bubble. This geometrical model yields predictions for the length of wrinkles in good agreement with experiments independently of the rheological properties of the adsorbed layer.
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spelling oxford-uuid:37390d0b-c50a-4fb3-a193-339d759379cd2022-03-26T13:42:37ZWrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:37390d0b-c50a-4fb3-a193-339d759379cdEnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2013Aumaitre, EKnoche, SCicuta, PVella, DThe protein hydrophobin HFBII self-assembles into very elastic films at the surface of water; these films wrinkle readily upon compression. We demonstrate and study this wrinkling instability in the context of non-planar interfaces by forming HFBII layers at the surface of bubbles whose interfaces are then compressed by deflation of the bubble. By varying the initial concentration of the hydrophobin solutions, we are able to show that buckling occurs at a critical packing fraction of protein molecules on the surface. Independent experiments show that at this packing fraction the interface has a finite positive surface tension, and not zero surface tension as is usually assumed at buckling. We attribute this non-zero wrinkling tension to the finite elasticity of these interfaces. We develop a simple geometrical model for the evolution of the wrinkle length with further deflation and show that wrinkles grow rapidly near the needle (used for deflation) towards the mid-plane of the bubble. This geometrical model yields predictions for the length of wrinkles in good agreement with experiments independently of the rheological properties of the adsorbed layer.
spellingShingle Aumaitre, E
Knoche, S
Cicuta, P
Vella, D
Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.
title Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.
title_full Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.
title_fullStr Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.
title_full_unstemmed Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.
title_short Wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles.
title_sort wrinkling in the deflation of elastic bubbles
work_keys_str_mv AT aumaitree wrinklinginthedeflationofelasticbubbles
AT knoches wrinklinginthedeflationofelasticbubbles
AT cicutap wrinklinginthedeflationofelasticbubbles
AT vellad wrinklinginthedeflationofelasticbubbles