Effective exponents for the diffusive coarsening of wet foams and analogous materials

Abstract

Empirical exponents for the growth of average domain size commonly lie between the known limits of 1/2 and 1/3. Here, a framework is developed in the context of foams to quantitatively explain such intermediate exponents, based on a model of gas diffusion and microstructure in which bubbles are approximately spherical and meet at approximately circular films. This predicts growth that is only logarithmically different from a 1/3 power law for nearly-kissing spheres at jamming. It also predicts how the growth law and effective exponents vary with liquid content, as set by the film radius. These predictions compare well with experimental data for two different foaming systems.