Plateau borders of smectic liquid crystalline films

Smectic free-standing films under fast lateral compression

“…A small detail that is relevant for the catenoids with central films has been demonstrated for soap films by Geminard and Oswald 34 , and shown to be even more pronounced in smectic films by Trittel et al 35 : The Plateau border has the effect of a negative line tension if it has a finite extension. The consequence is that the angle between the three films is not the same, but the central film and both catenoid parts form angles slightly smaller than 120 • .…”

“…The consequence is that the angle between the three films is not the same, but the central film and both catenoid parts form angles slightly smaller than 120 • . If one assumes a realistic angle of 119 • for the smectic material 35 , the above calculation needs a slight correction, and the maximum achievable ring separation reaches ≈ 0.74074 R, with an inner film radius of about 0.63162 R. This scenario is indicated by the magenta curve in Fig. 2 slightly above the dashed graph.…”

Measurement of the interface tension of smectic membranes in water

“…However, the capillary forces on the air bubble surface are responsible for the position of the contact line on the air bubble. An additional line tension of the contact line may have to be considered, 29 too. These aspects were not in the focus of the present study, even though they may provide additional consistency checks for the experimental data.…”

Effect of airflow rate and drainage on the properties of 2D smectic liquid crystal foams

“…These results are in a good agreement with previous works comparing the effect of elasticity to that of surface tension for nematic and smectic films. [38][39][40] Although the LC elasticity doesn't have a major role in the foam structure, it is important to mention that elasticity plays an important role in the the stabilization of foam after fabrication.…”