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William B Russel

Publications and source records attributed to William B Russel.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Electric-field-induced patterns in thin polymer films: weakly nonlinear and fully nonlinear evolution.

A thin polymer melt on a substrate can be unstable to an electric field normal to the interface, a phenomenon that can be harnessed as a patterning technique with a range of potential applications. Motivated by the variety of patterns observed in experiments for polymers under both unpatterned and patterned masks, we describe here, from theoretical and numerical analyses, how nonlinear effects govern the growth of the instability and determine the final patterns. In particular, we discuss the nonlinear growth in terms of interactions among different Fourier modes and show that the second- and third-order nonlinearities favor the growth of hexagonal patterns under a featureless mask, in agreement with experimental observations. Also, numerical simulations based on the fully nonlinear model validate the prediction of the weakly nonlinear analysis: hexagonal patterns do emerge under an unpatterned mask. Furthermore, in one-dimensional simulations, we demonstrate the energetic evolution of this patterning process and reveal several "kinetically stable structures" along the path to the thermodynamically stable state. Two-dimensional simulations allow us to study the effects of both mask patterns and the initial film thickness. Generally, patterns on the mask guide the growth such that the pattern conforms to the geometric shapes. Interestingly, a small cylindrical protrusion at the center of the mask can produce exactly the same pattern as a large, flat, circular protrusion. The initial film thickness or the thickness ratio of the polymer layer to the air gap plays an important role in determining the final pattern formed. Finally, we demonstrate, by two simple examples, that the simulations can provide insights on "smart" mask designs for producing large areas of well-ordered patterns.

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PubMed2005

Effect of hydrophobically modified polymers on shear-induced multilamellar vesicles.

The effects of polymer concentration, polymer molecular weight, and hydrophobe substitution level of modified poly(acrylic acid) polymers on the formation, size, and viscoelastic properties of shear-induced multilamellar vesicles (onions) are studied by rheology and light diffraction. The onions are close-packed, space-filling vesicles formed by shearing aqueous lamellar phases of C12E5 surfactant to produce phases with sufficient order and size uniformity (O(1-3 microm)) to diffract light. The addition of hydrophobically modified polymers enhances the rate of formation, uniformity, and stability independent of hydrophobe substitution level. Onion size decreases with increasing shear rate as observed for pure surfactant onion systems, but the shear-rate dependence is changed by the polymer. The onion phase has a plateau modulus that increases with polymer concentration but is independent of hydrophobe substitution level or molecular weight. The model presented by Panizza et al. that relates the plateau modulus of the onion phase to membrane rigidity and the compression modulus is consistent with independent measurements of membrane properties from SANS.

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PubMed2005

Cracking in drying latex films.

Thin films of latex dispersions containing particles of high glass transition temperature generally crack while drying under ambient conditions. Experiments with particles of varying radii focused on conditions for which capillary stresses normal to the film deform the particles elastically and generate tensile stresses in the plane of the film. Irrespective of the particle size, the drying film contained, simultaneously, domains consisting of a fluid dispersion, a fully dried packing of deformed spheres, and a close packed array saturated with water. Interestingly, films cast from dispersions containing 95-nm sized particles developed tensile stresses and ultimately became transparent even in the absence of water, indicating that van der Waals forces can deform the particles. Employing the stress-strain relation for a drying latex film along with the well-known Griffith's energy balance concept, we calculate the critical stress at cracking and the accompanying crack spacing, in general agreement with the observed values.

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PubMed2005

Experiments on random packings of ellipsoids.

Recent simulations indicate that ellipsoids can pack randomly more densely than spheres and, remarkably, for axes ratios near 1.25:1:0.8 can approach the densest crystal packing (fcc) of spheres, with a packing fraction of 74%. We demonstrate that such dense packings are realizable. We introduce a novel way of determining packing density for a finite sample that minimizes surface effects. We have fabricated ellipsoids and show that, in a sphere, the radial packing fraction phi(r) can be obtained from V(h), the volume of added fluid to fill the sphere to height h. We also obtain phi(r) from a magnetic resonance imaging scan. The measurements of the overall density phi(avr), phi(r) and the core density phi(0) = 0.74 +/- 0.005 agree with simulations.

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PubMed2005

Reversible self-assembly and directed assembly of DNA-linked micrometer-sized colloids.

We present a technique for the directed assembly and self-assembly of micrometer-scale structures based on the control of specific DNA linkages between colloidal particles. The use of DNA links combined with polymer brushes provides an effective way to regulate the range and magnitude of addressable forces between pairs (and further combinations) of different particles. We demonstrate that the autoassembly of alternate microbeads as well as their directed assembly, by using laser tweezers, is reversible. The key to reversibility is preventing the particles from falling into their van der Waals well at close distances. This goal is achieved by the use of adsorbed polymers that limit the number of DNA bridges to one to three between adjacent particles.

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PubMed2004

Cylindrically symmetric electrohydrodynamic patterning.

Cylindrically symmetric structures such as concentric rings and rosettes arise out of thin polymeric films subjected to strong electric fields. Experiments that formed concentric rings and theory capable of explaining these and other cylindrical structures are presented. These rings represent an additional member of a class of structures, including pillars and holes, formed by electrohydrodynamic patterning of thin films, occasionally referred to as lithographically induced self-assembly. Fabrication of a set of concentric rings begins by spin coating a thin poly(methyl methacrylate) film onto a silicon wafer. A mask is superimposed parallel to the film leaving a similarly thin air gap. Electric fields, acting in opposition to surface tension, destabilize the free interface when raised above the glass transition temperature. Central pillars nucleate under small cylindrical protrusions patterned on the mask. Rings then emerge sequentially, with larger systems having as many as 10 fully formed rings. Ring-to-ring spacings and annular widths, typically on the order of a micron, are approximately constant within a concentric cluster. The formation rate is proportional to the viscosity and, consequently, has the expected Williams-Landel-Ferry dependence on temperature. In light of these developments we have undertaken a linear stability analysis in cylindrical coordinates to describe these rings and ringlike structures. The salient feature of this analysis is the use of perturbations that incorporate their radial dependence in terms of Bessel functions as opposed to the traditional sinusoids of Cartesian coordinates. The theory predicts approximately constant ring-to-ring spacings, constant annular widths, and growth rates that agree with experiment. A secondary instability is observed at higher temperatures, which causes the rings to segment into arcs or pillar arrays. The cylindrical theory may be generalized to describe hexagonal pillar/hole packing, gratings, and rosettes with the first being of particular importance given the ubiquitous observation of hexagonal packing. The perturbation analysis presented here is relevant to any system with cylindrical symmetry, for which the radial dependence can be described in terms of Bessel functions.

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PubMed2004

Role of capillary stresses in film formation.

Stresses generated during film formation were deduced from the deflection of a copper cantilever coated with a drying latex. Experiments with particles of varying radii and glass transition temperatures (Tg) focused on conditions for which capillary stresses normal to the film deform the particles to close the voids. Soft particles (low Tg) formed continuous films, but hard ones (high Tg) produced fascinating arrays of cracks. For both soft and rigid particles, the lateral stresses were tensile and scaled on the surface tension divided by the particle radius. Clearly, tensile stresses in the plane of the film responsible for cracking arise from the same capillary pressure that drives compression in the normal direction. Solving the model (Routh & Russel 1996, 1999) for lateral flow of the fluid dispersion prior to close packing and deformation of the solid beyond close packing yields volume fraction, film thickness, and stress profiles for comparison with observations for both film-forming and film-cracking cases.

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PubMed2004

Limitations on length scales for electrostatically induced submicrometer pillars and holes.

Thin leaky and perfect dielectric films can be driven electrically to form well-ordered patterns, typically of pillar arrays. While the technique appears to promise nanometer scale features, this paper begins to examine some of the limitations. The process, sometimes referred to as lithographically induced self-assembly, begins by spin coating a polymer onto a silicon wafer generating an initially featureless film and then overlaying a mask, which may be patterned, leaving a small gap. This configuration is heated above the glass transition temperature of the polymer, upon which flow ensues with a characteristic wavelength set by a combination of electrical forces and surface tension. The authors recently examined the initial stages of this process under pattern-free masks by deriving a generalized linear stability analysis not restricted to the lubrication approximation (J. Chem. Phys. 2003, 118, 3790). Herein comparison of this model with experimental data from the literature finds good agreement over a wide range of conditions including applied voltages and oxide layers on the mask and substrate. A significant discrepancy at the highest fields may be due to dielectric breakdown, suggesting that the minimum feature size may be limited. Viscous effects may also limit the effectiveness of large decreases in surface tension or large increases in electric field, leading to lower limits for the feature size. Long-range ordering seems to decrease as surface tension decreases and the potential increases, indicating that smaller pillars come with decreased quality. In the absence of an electric field, consideration of the viscosity-dependent time scale suggests an explanation for the apparent conflict between observations by Schäffer et al. (Nature 2000, 403, 874) and those of Chou and Zhuang (J. Vac. Sci. Technol., B 1999, 17, 3197).

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PubMed2002

Nature of the divergence in low shear viscosity of colloidal hard-sphere dispersions.

Measurements of the low-shear viscosity eta(o) with a Zimm-Crothers viscometer for dispersions of colloidal hard spheres are reported as a function of volume fraction phi up to 0.56. Nonequilibrium theories based on solutions to the two-particle Smoluchoski equation or ideal mode coupling approximations do not capture the divergence. However, the nonhydrodynamic contribution to the relative viscosity Deltaeta(o) is correlated over a wide range of volume fractions by the Doolittle and Adam-Gibbs equations, indicating an exponential divergence at phi(m)=0.625+/-0.015. The data extend the previously proposed master curve, providing a test for improved theories for the many-body thermodynamic and hydrodynamic interactions that determine the viscosity of hard-sphere dispersions.

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