Geometrically Templated Dynamic Wrinkling from Suspended Poly(vinyl alcohol) Soap Films

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gao, Yuchong, Chi, Yinding, Patel, Mohit, Jin, Lishuai, Liu, Jiaqi, Brun, Pierre-Thomas, Yang, Shu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916646954729472
author Gao, Yuchong
Chi, Yinding
Patel, Mohit
Jin, Lishuai
Liu, Jiaqi
Brun, Pierre-Thomas
Yang, Shu
author_facet Gao, Yuchong
Chi, Yinding
Patel, Mohit
Jin, Lishuai
Liu, Jiaqi
Brun, Pierre-Thomas
Yang, Shu
contents Wrinkling is commonly observed as mechanical instability when a stiff thin film bound on a compliant thick substrate undergoes in-plane compression exceeding a threshold. Despite significant efforts to create a broad range of surface patterns via wrinkling, little has been studied about a dynamic and transient wrinkling process, where a suspended polymer thin film undergoes liquid-to-solid phase transitions. Here, a spontaneous wrinkling process is reported, when drying poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) soap films suspended on 3D printed wireframes with near zero or negative Gaussian curvatures. As water evaporates, a thickness gradient across the sample is developed, leading to non-uniform drying rates, and a concentration gradient between the inner and outer sides (exposed to air) of the suspended PVA soap film induces a differential osmotic pressure. Together, these effects contribute to an in-plane compressive stress, leading to the formation of surface wrinkles, whose growth is guided by the geometry of the frame. Importantly, the wrinkles evolve dynamically: the wavelength and number of the wrinkles can be tuned by altering the concentration of the PVA aqueous solutions, the initial mass, the relative humidity of the drying environment; the patterns of the resulting wrinkles can be programmed by the geometry of the wireframe.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_06065
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Geometrically Templated Dynamic Wrinkling from Suspended Poly(vinyl alcohol) Soap Films
Gao, Yuchong
Chi, Yinding
Patel, Mohit
Jin, Lishuai
Liu, Jiaqi
Brun, Pierre-Thomas
Yang, Shu
Soft Condensed Matter
Applied Physics
Wrinkling is commonly observed as mechanical instability when a stiff thin film bound on a compliant thick substrate undergoes in-plane compression exceeding a threshold. Despite significant efforts to create a broad range of surface patterns via wrinkling, little has been studied about a dynamic and transient wrinkling process, where a suspended polymer thin film undergoes liquid-to-solid phase transitions. Here, a spontaneous wrinkling process is reported, when drying poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) soap films suspended on 3D printed wireframes with near zero or negative Gaussian curvatures. As water evaporates, a thickness gradient across the sample is developed, leading to non-uniform drying rates, and a concentration gradient between the inner and outer sides (exposed to air) of the suspended PVA soap film induces a differential osmotic pressure. Together, these effects contribute to an in-plane compressive stress, leading to the formation of surface wrinkles, whose growth is guided by the geometry of the frame. Importantly, the wrinkles evolve dynamically: the wavelength and number of the wrinkles can be tuned by altering the concentration of the PVA aqueous solutions, the initial mass, the relative humidity of the drying environment; the patterns of the resulting wrinkles can be programmed by the geometry of the wireframe.
title Geometrically Templated Dynamic Wrinkling from Suspended Poly(vinyl alcohol) Soap Films
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.06065