Related papers: Modification of adhesion between microparticles an…
We present a fluid dynamics video showing the adhesion of a drop to a superhydrophobic surface. We use environmental scanning electron microscopy to observe depinning events at the microscale. As the drop moves along the surface, the…
An aqueous suspension of silica nanoparticles or nanofluid can alter the wettability of surfaces, specifically by making them hydrophilic and oil-repellent under water. Wettability alteration by nanofluids have important technological…
We study the mechanics of a reversible decohesion (unzipping) of an elastic layer subjected to quasi-static end-point loading. At the micro level the system is simulated by an elastic chain of particles interacting with a rigid foundation…
Both the shape of individual particles and their surface properties contribute to the strength of a granular material under shear. Here we show the degree to which these two aspects can be intertwined. In experiments on assemblies of 3D…
The results obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the friction at an interface between polymer melts and weakly attractive crystalline surfaces are reported. We consider a coarse-grained bead-spring model of linear chains with…
We present an experimental and theoretical study of dry and glycerol-lubricated sliding for polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) cylinders with different surface roughness sliding on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubber. This system represents a…
Understanding the contact between solid surfaces is a long standing problem which has a strong impact on the physics of many processes such as adhesion, friction, lubrication and wear. Experimentally, the investigation of solid/solid…
A full characterization of the water flow past a silicon superhydrophobic surface with longitudinal micro-grooves enclosed in a microfluidic device is presented. Fluorescence microscopy images of the flow seeded with fluorescent passive…
In our recent works, based on the structural studies on water and interfacial water (topmost water layer at the solute/water interface), hydration free energy is derived and utilized to investigate the physical origin of hydrophobic…
Engineering wear models are generally empirical and lack connections to the physical processes of debris generation at the nanoscale to microscale. Here, we thus analyze wear particle formation for sliding interfaces in dry contact with…
The motion of submerged magnetic microspheres rolling at a glass-water interface has been studied using magnetic rotation and optical tweezers combined with bright-field microscopy particle tracking techniques. Individual microspheres of…
The motion of flexible fibers through structured fluidic environments is ubiquitous in nature and industrial applications. Most often, their dynamics results from the complex interplay between internal elastic stresses, contact forces and…
The electrical properties of graphene depend sensitively on the substrate. For example, recent measurements of epitaxial graphene on SiC show resistance arising from steps on the substrate. Here we calculate the deformation of graphene at…
There are currently three main classes of high-performance liquid-repellent surfaces: micro-/nano-structured lotus-effect superhydrophobic surfaces, flat surfaces grafted with 'liquid-like' polymer brushes, and various lubricated surfaces.…
We study the effective forces acting between colloidal particles trapped at a fluid interface which itself is exposed to a pressure field. To this end we apply what we call the ``force approach'', which relies solely on the condition of…
Nanoscopic pores are used in various systems to attract nanoparticles. In general the behaviour is a result of two types of interactions: the material specific affinity and the solvent-mediated influence also called the depletion force. The…
We report microscale friction experiments for diamond/metal and diamond/silica contacts under gigapascal contact pressures. Using a new nanoprobe technique which has sufficient dynamic range of force and stiffness, we demonstrate the…
We study the interaction of small hydrophobic particles on the surface of an ultra-soft elastic gel, in which a small amount of elasticity of the medium balances the weights of the particles. The excess energy of the surface of the deformed…
A mechanistic understanding of adhesion in soft materials is critical in the fields of transportation (tires, gaskets, seals), biomaterials, micro-contact printing, and soft robotics. Measurements have long demonstrated that the apparent…
Soft particles such as microgels and core-shell particles can undergo significant and anisotropic deformations when adsorbed to a liquid interface. This, in turn, leads to a complex phase behavior upon compression. Here we develop a…