Coarsening rates for the dynamics of slipping droplets

Abstract

We derive reduced finite dimensional ODE models starting from one dimensional lubrication equations describing coarsening dynamics of droplets in nanometric polymer film interacting on a hydrophobically coated solid substrate in the presence of large slippage at the liquid/solid interface. In the limiting case of infinite slip length corresponding in applications to free films a collision/absorption model then arises and is solved explicitly. The exact coarsening law is derived for it analytically and confirmed numerically. Existence of a threshold for the decay of initial distributions of droplet distances at infinity at which the coarsening rates switch from algebraic to exponential ones is shown.