A Theory of Shape-Shifting Droplets

Abstract

Recent studies of cooled oil emulsion droplets uncovered transformations into a host of flattened shapes with straight edges and sharp corners, driven by a partial phase transition of the bulk liquid phase. Here, we explore theoretically the simplest geometric competition between this phase transition and surface tension in planar polygons, and recover the observed sequence of shapes and their statistics in qualitative agreement with experiments. Extending the model to capture some of the three-dimensional structure of the droplets, we analyze the evolution of protrusions sprouting from the vertices of the platelets and the topological transition of a puncturing planar polygon.

5 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Virus shapes and buckling transitions in spherical shells

Cited by in corpus (4)

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• Rotator phases in hexadecane emulsion drops revealed by X-ray synchrotron techniques
• Reply to Comment on "Faceting and flattening of emulsion droplets: a mechanical model" by Haas et al