PATTERN-FORMATION IN DRYING WATER FILMS

We describe experimental observations of water films evaporating from clean mica substrates. The films break up into coexisting thick and th in regions, the boundary between them forming well-defined patterns. T he dynamic patterns demonstrate characteristic features which can be r elated to simulations of diffusion-limited growth in isotropic two-dim ensional systems. The observations are related to a model for a volati le thin film bound to a substrate by both Van der Waals and polar forc es. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved