Nature uses fibrous surfaces for a wide range of functions such as sensing, adhesion, structural color, and self-cleaning. However, little is known about how fiber properties enable them to self-organize into diverse and complex functional forms. Using polymeric micro/nanofiber arrays with tunable properties as model systems, we demonstrate how the combination of mechanical and surface properties can be harnessed to transform an array of anchored nanofibers into a variety of complex, hierarchically organized dynamic functional surfaces. We show that the delicate balance between fiber elasticity and surface adhesion plays a critical role in determining the shape, chirality, and hierarchy of the assembled structures. We further report a strategy for controlling the long-range order of fiber assemblies by manipulating the shape and movement of the liquid-vapor interface. Our study provides fundamental understanding of the pattern formation by self-organization of bioinspired fibrous surfaces. Moreover, our new strategies offer a foundation for designing a vast assortment of functional surfaces with adhesive, optical, water-repellent, capture and release, and many more capabilities with the structural and dynamic sophistication of their biological counterparts. / Engineering and Applied Sciences

An experimental study on impaction of a single drop on solid surfaces was conducted to show the effects of particles on the impact process. The parameters were: volume fraction of particles (0 to 0.3), particle size (0.47 to 250 micron), and ratio of particle size to drop size (0.00017 to 0.074). The effect of particle volume fraction on the spreading process depended on impact speed and substrate. At low impact speed, particles had little effect on the spreading except for surfaces where the equilibrium contact angle was low. For high impact speed, the influence of particles on spreading can be described by the effective viscosity. The effect of particle size on the spreading process also depended on impact speed and substrate. At low impact speed, the drop did not have enough kinetic energy to overcome the energy barrier associated with the large particles. For particle-laden liquids, retraction was affected by particle parameters. When pure liquid drops retracted from the maximum spreading ratio, the retraction appeared to be symmetric around the point of impaction while retraction of the particle-laden drop was sometimes asymmetric. Rebounding on the Teflon film depended on impact speed, particle volume fraction, and particle size. The impact speed must reach a critical value for rebounding to occur. Bouncing results suggested that the probability of bouncing decreased as viscosity increased, impact speed increased, and surface tension decreased. The non-wetting behavior and bouncing probably involved an air layer between the surface and the drop. When a low-velocity liquid drop impacts on a surface, ejection of a secondary drop from the top of the impacting drop was sometimes observed. When Renardy et al.'s (2003) criterion for the range of velocities for existence of a capillary wave was applied to for a 3.2-mm water drop; the range was between 0.2 to 1.5 m/s. However, drop ejection was observed at lower impact speed. When apparent viscosity of the particle-laden liquid obtained from Krieger's equation (1972) was used in the pure liquid models for predicting the maximum spreading ratio, good agreement between model predictions and experimental results was obtained when Park et al's model (2003) was used.

La qualité d'impression est une notion difficile à maîtriser. L'œil est souvent utilisé en industrie comme outil permettant de juger la qualité d'un film polymère imprimé. Afin d'atteindre un niveau supérieur de qualité, il est nécessaire de trouver un moyen pour quantifier la qualité d'impression, et ainsi permettre d'atteindre soit une qualité dite « point par point », soit une qualité dite « all-over ». Plusieurs éléments sont nécessaires à cette quantification : une image en microscopie optique de l'échantillon, ainsi qu'une valeur d'intensité moyenne et d'homogénéité de couleur, que l'on obtient grâce à un rugosimètre confocal. Ainsi nous avons pu définir, pour un support mis en forme par calandrage et un support mis en forme par enduction, les paramètres majeurs agissant sur la qualité d'impression. En termes de procédé, il apparaît que la vitesse d'impression et la pression du cylindre presseur influencent grandement l'imprimabilité. Au niveau des matériaux utilisés, la viscosité et la tension de surface de l'encre ont un effet important alors qu'en termes de support, un film calandré sera plus sensible aux variations des différents paramètres qu'un film enduit. / Printing quality idea is hard to control. In industry, eye is often used to judge the quality of a printed polymer film. In order to get a new level in terms of printing quality and get “point by point” or “all-over” quality, it is necessary to find a way to quantify printing quality. Some elements are important concerning the quantification of the printing quality: an optical microscopic image, a value of the average intensity and a value on the homogeneity of the color. We can define, for a calendered and a coated substrate, the main parameters acting on the printing quality. Printing speed and pressure of the rubber roll are the two main process parameters to act, viscosity and surface tension of the ink are the two main ink properties to act, while the calendered substrate is more sensitive to the variation of the parameters than the coated one.

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