Influence of Bénard–Marangoni instability on the morphology of drying colloidal films

Abstract

The drying of colloidal suspensions is a very complex process leading to a sol–gel transition induced by solvent evaporation. The resulting film can even crack and delaminate. In this study, we investigate the drying process of a colloidal suspension with a highly volatile solvent and we show for initially millimeter-thick layers that the resulting pattern of delaminated plates considerably differs from what is usually observed for aqueous colloidal suspensions. Visualization using an IR camera reveals that hexagonal convection cells can develop during the drying of suspensions with a highly volatile solvent and may persist until the film consolidation. This leads to the formation of non-homogeneous films presenting surface corrugations. Thus, we highlight the importance of the hydrodynamics during the first phase of strong solvent evaporation and its consequences for the following drying steps. A criterion predicting whether or not Bénard–Marangoni instability effectively occurs will be discussed. Finally, we report a non-classical delamination mode generating fragments with convex surfaces, whereas buckle-driven delamination usually results in concave shapes.