Kinetic roughening of a soft dewetting line under quenched disorder - a numerical study

TL;DR

This study uses a molecular-dynamics simulation to explore the complex behavior of a dewetting liquid line on inhomogeneous surfaces, revealing critical depinning behavior and new propagation regimes due to substrate disorder and capillary forces.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation method for analyzing dewetting dynamics and uncovers critical depinning phenomena and collective behaviors in a two-parameter model.

Findings

Critical behavior near depinning transition

Identification of a new propagation regime

Large interface deformations due to substrate disorder

Abstract

A molecular-dynamics type simulation method, which is suitable for investigating the dewetting dynamics of thin and viscous liquid layers, is discussed. The efficiency of the method is exemplified by studying a two-parameter depinning-like model defined on inhomogeneous solid surfaces. The morphology and the statistical properties of the contact line is mapped in the relevant parameter space, and as a result critical behavior in the vicinity of the depinning transition is revealed. The model allows for the tearing of the layer, which leads to a new propagation regime resulting in non-trivial collective behavior. The large deformations observed for the interface is a result of the interplay between the substrate inhomogeneities and the capillary forces.