Ribbon curling via stress relaxation in thin polymer films

Creating controlled thickness gradients in polymer thin films via flowcoating.

Flowcoating is a popular technique for generating thin (5-200 nm), substrate-supported polymer films. In this process, a reservoir of coating fluid is held between the horizontal substrate and a nearly horizontal blade above the substrate; a film of fluid is drawn out of the reservoir by moving the substrate. Accelerating the substrate produces a film with a thickness gradient, particularly use...

Dewetting of thin polymer films.

We study the dewetting of thin polymer films deposited on slippery substrate. Recent experiments on these systems have revealed many unexpected features. We develop here a model that takes into account the rheological properties of polymer melts, focussing on two dewetting geometries (the receding of a straight edge, and the opening of a hole). We show that the friction law associated with the ...

Texture formation in FePt thin films via thermal stress management

Texture formation in FePt thin films via thermal stress management" (2005).

Relaxation effects in HTc-Superconducting Thin Films

Mechanical relaxation experiments have been widely applied to bulk high temperature (HT,) superconducting materials. In contrast to that only few results obtained on HT, superconducting thin films were reported. None dealt with stress driven phenomena due to the high background damping from the substrate materials used. In applied magnetic fields, however, a host reed technique can be used and ...

Electrohydrodynamic Instabilities in Thin Polymer Films