Splitting Fingers under Strain:  Pattern Formation of a Dipolar Fluid in a Polymer Medium

Abstract

We study the formation and evolution of labyrinthine patterns for dipolar fluids inside a polymer medium under mechanical strain. A new general mechanism is proposed to describe the kinetics of the pattern formation that combines orientation ordering and subsequently breaking characteristics of dipolar fluids with branching characteristics of crack-propagation. This mechanism can lead to many of the patterns found in nature, including spots, stripes, labyrinthine, and starlike formations.