Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2023 APS March Meeting
Volume 68, Number 3
Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5-10)
Virtual (March 20-22); Time Zone: Pacific Time
Session N12: Gallery of Soft Matter
11:30 AM–2:30 PM,
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Room: Room 235
Sponsoring
Unit:
DSOFT
Chair: Irmgard Bischofberger, MIT
Abstract: N12.00004 : Bending Plateau's laws: Equilibrium shape of an elastic ribbon in a 2D bubble column*
1:18 PM–1:54 PM
Presenter:
Manon Jouanlanne
(Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, Strasbourg, France)
Authors:
Manon Jouanlanne
(Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, Strasbourg, France)
Antoine Egelé
(Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, Strasbourg, France)
Damien Favier
(Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, Strasbourg, France)
Wiebke Drenckhan
(Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, Strasbourg, France)
Jean Farago
(Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, Strasbourg, France)
Aurélie Hourlier-Fargette
(Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron UPR22, Strasbourg, France)
We consider a model experiment, consisting of elastomeric ribbons which deform under the action of capillary forces in a quasi-2D foam column. Confining bubbles into square section tubes leads to periodically ordered structures. We focus on the so-called “staircase” structure where bubbles of equal volume are rearranged in a staggered pattern. This structure has central soap films connected with 120° angles, in which we introduce elastic ribbons of different bending rigidities. We establish the key parameters leading to the deformation of the ribbon (capillarity dominated) or to the deformation of the foam (rigidity dominated) in the extreme cases. Using X-ray micro-tomography, we quantify the equilibrium shapes of the quasi-2D foam/ribbon systems: we present a detailed analysis of the ribbon profile, that compares well with theoretical predictions in the whole range of bending rigidities. We also provide a proof-of-concept that such setup can be used as a method to mold materials with characteristic shapes and curves imprinted by the foam structure. Finally, we discuss the extension of this approach to 3D complex materials.
*We acknowledge funding from the Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute Hierarchical Functional Materials (ITI HiFunMat, grant FoamFibMat)
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