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Hydrodynamically-driven colloidal assembly in the thin-film entrainment regime

We study numerically the hydrodynamics of dip coating from a suspension and report a mechanism for colloidal assembly and pattern formation on smooth and uniform substrates. Below a critical withdrawal speed of the substrate, capillary forces required to deform the meniscus prevent colloidal particles from entering the coating film. Capillary forces are overcome by hydrodynamic drag only after a minimum number of particles organize in a close-packed formation within the meniscus. Once within the film, the formed assembly moves at nearly the withdrawal speed and rapidly separates from the next assembly. The interplay between hydrodynamic and capillary forces can thus produce periodic and regular structures within the curved meniscus that extends below the withdrawn film. The hydrodynamically-driven assembly documented here is consistent with stripe pattern formations observed experimentally in the so-called thin-film entrainment regime.