The coupled map lattice models of thin liquid film rupture

Abstract

The dewetting of the spread of thin liquid films over lyophobic solid substrates is studied by means of coupled map lattice models. It is assumed that the dewetting process can be initiated by either nucleation events or a spinodal transition. The growth of the holes is modeled by the local rules describing the evolution of a single lattice cell. Different coupled map lattices based on the von Neumann and Moore neighborhoods as well as on simple and proportional liquid distributions among adjacent cells are applied. The simulation results are discussed in terms of the kinetics of the dewetting process and the mass distribution of droplets formed as the final product of the dewetting. The results show that the presented models produce different patterns formed by growing holes, including mother holes and satellites. The final droplet distribution varies from the regular to the chaotic Voronoi tessellation. The rate of dewetting can be described by means of the superposition of first and second order kinetic equations. The final surface coverage degree only slightly depends on the details of models applied.