RESUMEN
The purpose of this article is to compare experiments carried out with single vertical foam films and with foams. We focus on the generation of films and foams and measure (i) the quantity of water entrained and (ii) the stability of the systems. The surfactants we used are C12E6, ß-C12G2 and their 1 : 1 mixture because those systems are very well characterised in the literature and are known to stabilise foams with very different properties. We show that the quantity of water uptake in foams and single vertical films scales in the same way with the velocity of generation. However, the different surfactant solutions have different foamabilities, whereas the films they stabilise have exactly the same thickness. Moreover, the foamability of a C12E6 solution is much lower than that of a ß-C12G2 solution or of a solution of the 1 : 1 mixture. This is due to the rapid rupture of the C12E6 foam films during foam generation. Surprisingly, the isolated films have exactly the same lifetime for all the surfactant solutions. We conclude that, though drawing a correlation between films and foams is tempting, the results obtained do not allow correlating of film and foam stability during the generation process. The only difference we observed between the single films stabilised by the different solutions is the stability of their respective black films. We thus suggest that the stability of black films during foam generation plays an important role which should be explored further in future work.
RESUMEN
The purpose of this article is to compare experiments carried out with single vertical foam films and with foams. We focus on the generation of films and foams and measure (i) the quantity of water entrained and (ii) the stability of the systems. The surfactants we used are C12E6, b-C12G2 and their 1 : 1 mixture because those systems are very well characterised in the literature and are known to stabilise foams with very different properties. We show that the quantity of water uptake in foams and single vertical films scales in the same way with the velocity of generation. However, the different surfactant solutions have different foamabilities, whereas the films they stabilise have exactly the same thickness. Moreover, the foamability of a C12E6 solution is much lower than that of a b-C12G2 solution or of a solution of the 1 : 1 mixture. This is due to the rapid rupture of the C12E6 foam films during foam generation. Surprisingly, the isolated films have exactly the same lifetime for all the surfactant solutions. We conclude that, though drawing a correlation between films and foams is tempting, the results obtained do not allow correlating of film and foam stability during the generation process. The only difference we observed between the single films stabilised by the different solutions is the stability of their respective black films. We thus suggest that the stability of black films during foam generation plays an important role which should be explored further in future work.
RESUMEN
What are the lifetime and maximum length of a soap film pulled at a velocity V out of a bath of soapy solution? This is the question we explore in this article by performing systematic film rupture experiments. We show that the lifetime and maximal length of the films are fairly reproducible and controlled only by hydrodynamics. For surfactants with high surface elastic modulus, we argue that the rupture is triggered by the expansion of a thinning zone at the top of the film. The length ltz of this zone expands with time at a velocity equal to V/2, which can be obtained by a balance between gravity and viscous forces. The film lifetime is then found to decrease with the pulling velocity V, which implies that the surface tension gradient along the film increases with V. This surface tension gradient is found to be surprisingly small. Finally, the lifetime of films stabilised by solutions with small surface elastic modulus turns out to be much shorter than the ones for films with rigid interfaces.
RESUMEN
Classical Frankel's law describes the formation of soap films and their evolution upon pulling, a model situation of film dynamics in foams (formation, rheology, and destabilization). With the purpose of relating film pulling to foam dynamics, we have built a new setup able to give an instantaneous measurement of film thickness, thus allowing us to determine film thickness profile during pulling. We found that only the lower part of the film is of uniform thickness and follows Frankel's law, provided the entrainment velocity is small. We show that this is due to confinement effects: there is not enough surfactant in the bulk to fully cover the newly created surfaces which results in immobile film surfaces. At large velocities, surfaces become mobile and then Frankel's law breaks down, leading to a faster drainage and thus to a nonstationary thickness at the bottom of the film. These findings should help in understanding the large dispersion of previous experimental data reported during the last 40 years and clarifying the pulling phenomenon of thin liquid films.