Spontaneous Elastocapillary Winding of Thin Elastic Fibers in Contact with Bubbles

We study the elastocapillary interaction between flexible microfibers in contact with bubbles trapped at the surface of a liquid bath. Microfibers placed on top of bubbles are found to migrate to and wrap into a coil around the perimeter of the bubble for certain bubble-fiber size combinations. The wrapping process is spontaneous: the coil spins atop the bubble, thereby drawing in excess fiber floating on the bath. A twodimensional microfiber coil emerges which increases the lifetime of the bubbles. A simple model incorporating surface and bending energies captures the spontaneous winding process.

Automated summary

The study reveals that the elastocapillary interaction between flexible microfibers and bubbles trapped at the surface of a liquid bath can cause the microfibers to wrap into a coil around the perimeter of the bubble, leading to an increased bubble lifetime. A simple model incorporating surface and bending energies captures the spontaneous winding process observed in the study.