Pearling and arching instabilities of a granular suspension on a super-absorbing surface

Abstract

We show that a granular suspension, composed of particles immersed in a liquid, can form pearls, hooks, and arches when deposited from a nozzle onto a translating substrate that acts as a liquid super-absorber. The removal of the liquid induces a rapid pinning of the contact line leading to mechanically stable structures that are held together by capillary adhesion with shapes that depend on the relative solidification rate. Pearls or hooks form depending on whether the suspension snaps off before or after coming into contact with the substrate. A cylindrical thread with a near circular cross-section and various undulatory structures forms if solidification occurs prior to snap-off. In particular, when the jet solidifies before coming into contact with the substrate, it folds periodically, resulting in arches with a span length determined by the deposition flux and the substrate speed. Period doubling and meandering are observed leading to further structures with vertical and horizontal ripples when the deposition flux is increased.