Dewetting of glassy polymer films

Abstract

Dynamics and morphology of hole growth in a film of power hardening viscoplastic solid [ yield stress˜(strain-rate)ⁿ] is investigated. At short times the growth is exponential and depends on the initial hole size. At long times, for n>1/3, the growth is again exponential but with a different exponent. However, for n<1/3 the hole growth slows and the hole radius approaches an asymptotic value at long times. The rim shape is highly asymmetric, the height of which has a power law dependence on the hole radius (exponent close to unity for 0.25<n<0.4). The above results explain recent intriguing experiments of Reiter on dewetting.