Analytical solutions for the profile of two-dimensional droplets with finite-length precursor films

Abstract

By means of the lubrication approximation we obtain the full family of static bidimensional profiles of a liquid resting on a substrate under partial-wetting conditions imposed by a disjoining-conjoining pressure. We show that for a set of quite general disjoining-conjoining pressure potentials, the free surface can adopt only five nontrivial static patterns; in particular, we find solutions when the height goes to zero which describe satisfactorily the complete free surface for a finite amount of fluid deposited on a substrate. To test the extension of the applicability of our solutions, we compare them with those obtained when the lubrication approximations are not employed and under conditions where the lubrication hypothesis are not strictly valid, and also with axisymmetric solutions. For a given disjoining-conjoining potential, we report a new analytical solution that accounts for all the five possible solutions.