Free films of a partially wetting liquid under the influence of a propagating MHz surface acoustic wave

Abstract

We use both theory and experiment to study the response of thin and free films of a partially wetting liquid to a MHz vibration, propagating in the solid substrate in the form of a Rayleigh surface acoustic wave (SAW). We generalise the previous theory for the response of a thin fully wetting liquid film to a SAW by including the presence of a small but finite three phase contact angle between the liquid and the solid. The SAW in the solid invokes a convective drift of mass in the liquid and leaks sound waves. The dynamics of a film that is too thin to support the accumulation of the sound wave leakage is governed by a balance between the drift and capillary stress alone. We use theory to demonstrate that a partially wetting liquid film, supporting a weak capillary stress, will spread along the path of the SAW. A partially wetting film, supporting an appreciable capillary stress, will however undergo a concurrent dynamic wetting and dewetting at the front and the rear, respectively, such that the film will displace, rather than spread, along the path of the SAW. The result of the theory for a weak capillary stress is in agreement with the previous experimental and theoretical studies on the response of thin silicon oil films to a propagating SAW. No corresponding previous results exist for the case of an appreciable capillary stress. We thus complement the large capillary limit of our theory by undertaking an experimental procedure where we explore the response of films of water and a surfactant solutions to a MHz SAW, which is found to be in qualitative agreement with the theory at this limit.