Elastocapillary instability under partial wetting conditions: bending versus buckling

The elastocapillary instability of a flexible plate plunged in a liquid bath is analysed theoretically. We show that the plate can bend due to two separate destabilizing mechanisms, when the liquid is partially wetting the solid. For contact angles $θ_e > π/2$, the capillary forces acting tangential to the surface are compressing the plate and can induce a classical buckling instability. However, a second mechanism appears due to capillary forces normal to surface. These induce a destabilizing torque that tends to bend the plate for any value of the contact angle $θ_e > 0$. We denote these mechanisms as "buckling" and "bending" respectively and identify the two corresponding dimensionless parameters that govern the elastocapillary stability. The onset of instability is determined analytically and the different bifurcation scenarios are worked out for experimentally relevant conditions.

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