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Capillary driven deformations of elastic solids
Surface tension plays a crucial role in designing the shape of liquid interfaces, like drops or bubbles, especially at small scales. Whenever a liquid interface is put in contact with a soft solid, capillary forces may be strong enough to induce deformations of the solid. In some configurations these deformations simply lead to the destruction of the system, while in other cases they open the road to an easy and smart manipulation of the solid.
In the first part of this presentation I will introduce the main features of elasto-capillary interactions and review some recent progresses in the field. I will then focus on two experiments, both involving large displacements of thin elastic films : the deformation of a soft strip withdrawn from a liquid bath and the dynamic folding of a thin membrane induced by a falling droplet. To go beyond the experiments, I will present theoretical models able to describe and predict the behaviour of the two systems.