Different surface corrugations occurring during drainage of axisymmetric thin liquid films

This paper deals with the different surface corrugations observable during the thinning of axisymmetric thin and large aqueous films, stabilized by saponin. The films are observed using a thin film balance under a constant driving pressure. This device allows measurement of the thicknesses of the film surface shapes arising all along the drainage, as well as the following-up of their evolution before equilibrium is attained. Depending on the electrolyte (NaCl) concentration, three different sorts of corrugation were originally observed in such suspended thin liquid films. At the lowest NaCl concentrations, corresponding to repulsive potential between film walls, only the hydrodynamic corrugations deformed the film surfaces. Regarding the higher NaCl concentrations, when van der Waals forces become predominant, and following the thickness of the first-established thin film, the experiments disclose either that the thinner films are broken up by spinodal decomposition, or that the thicker ones are broken by nucleation and growth of black film. In addition, an original aspect of these works appears in the fact that these observations of the spontaneous decomposition of suspended thin films are relatively similar to those usually described for dewetting experiments on solid substrates, and are well fitted by the existing theoretical models.