LIFETIME OF A FOAM BILAYER IN CONTACT WITH AN INSOLUBLE MONOLAYER

The rupture of a foam bilayer in contact with an insoluble monolayer o f the amphiphiles building up the bilayer is considered as resulting f rom nucleation of nanoscopically small holes in the bilayer. An expres sion is derived for the dependence of the bilayer lifetime tau on the surface pressure pi(s) in the monolayer. It is found that this depende nce has a threshold character: tau decreases sharply with decreasing p i(s) in a narrow pi(s) range, and the bilayer ruptures practically ins tantaneously below a certain critical surface pressure in the monolaye r. (C) 1998 Academic Press.