Liquid transfer in printing processes: Liquid bridges with moving contact lines

Abstract

High-speed printing processes are a leading technology for the large-scale manufacture of a new generation of nanoscale and microscale devices. Central to all printing processes is the transfer of liquid from one surface to another, a seemingly simple operation that is still not well understood. A useful idealization of liquid transfer is a liquid bridge with moving contact lines being deformed between two separating surfaces. The fluid mechanics of such bridges are relevant not only to printing, but also to other important applications, such as adhesion, tribology, biology, oil recovery, and microfluidics.