Star shaped patterns caused by colloidal aggregation during the spreading process of a droplet

TL;DR

This study investigates the formation of star-shaped patterns during droplet spreading caused by colloidal aggregation and interfacial instability, supported by experiments and a phenomenological model.

Contribution

It introduces a new model explaining star pattern formation due to colloidal aggregation during droplet spreading, validated by experimental phase diagrams.

Findings

Star patterns form in high concentrations of 2-methoxyethanol.

The phenomenological model reproduces experimental patterns.

A phase diagram correlates concentration and viscosity with pattern formation.

Abstract

This research found that when an acidic solution with a low surface tension spread on the surface of a glycerol solution mixed with milk, a star shaped pattern was spontaneously formed on the surface in the horizontal plane during the spreading process. We investigated the emergence of the star shaped pattern owing to an interfacial instability in experiments using glycerol solutions with several viscosities and 2-methoxyethanol aqueous solutions, which are acidic solutions, with several concentrations. This result demonstrated that the star shaped pattern emerged in the high concentration of 2-methoxyethanol. We proposed a phenomenological model, based on our experimental results, which explains three points as follows; the spreading of the 2-methoxyethanol aqueous solution on the surface of the glycerol solution, the colloidal aggregation of the milk protein colloids caused by the denaturation that occurs when mixed with 2-methoxyethanol, and the accumulation of the aggregates toward the dent regions of the moving interface by a sweeping effect. The model reproduces the formation of the star shaped pattern which was similar to the experimental one. Furthermore, the model provided a phase diagram against the concentration of the 2-methoxyethanol solution and the viscosity of the glycerol solution as control parameters in our experiments. The phase diagram was close to that obtained from our experiments. The results suggest that the above three points are important for the formation of the star shaped pattern.