(459h) Stretching and Emptying Dynamics of Viscoelastic Liquids In Gravure Processes | AIChE

(459h) Stretching and Emptying Dynamics of Viscoelastic Liquids In Gravure Processes

Authors 

Lee, J. A. - Presenter, Rice University
Pasquali, M. - Presenter, Rice University


Liquid coating and printing processes are likely candidates for bringing large-scale manufacturing capabilities to potentially important advanced functional materials such as structured films. For example, the gravure coating of dilute block copolymer solutions has been shown as a promising route to the facile fabrication of thin nano-pillared films.

Especially when the coating solution exhibits viscoelasticity, the liquid transfer during a gravure process is of interest. For example, viscoelasticity can adversely affect liquid transfer by allowing the stretching liquid bridge to persist (as long filaments). The modeling of such phenomena is important for improving gravure performance, but is not yet fully developed in the literature.

Viscoelasticity has previously been considered in computational studies of simple filament stretching and breakup between flat plates with pinned contact lines, while studies of cell- emptying have been limited to Newtonian liquids. We present a computational study of the dynamics of viscoelastic liquid bridges allowed to slip along patterned walls (gravure cells). We study the effect of viscoelasticity, wetting, and gravure cell geometry on the stretching dynamics and transfer out of a cavity.