arXiv · 0811.4009
This paper has been withdrawn by the author due to a new work in [arXiv:0901.0456v4] which can contain the results in this paper.
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Xiaohua Zhou. 2009-06-10. Stability analysis of kinked DNA in WLRC model. https://arxiv.org/abs/0811.4009
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Many biological, culinary, and engineering processes lead to the co-encapsulation of several soft particles within a liquid interface. In these situations the particles are bound together by the capillary forces that deform them and influence their biological or rheological properties. Here, we introduce an experimental approach to encapsulate a controlled number of soft beads within aqueous droplets in oil. These droplet-encapsulated gels are manipulated in a deformable microfluidic device to merge them and modify the liquid fraction. In the dry limit the contact surface between the hydrogels is found to be determined by the elastocapillary number $E_c$, with the contact radius following a $E_c^{1/3}$ dependence, indicating that the deformation increases for soft or small particles. When multiple beads are co-encapsulated within a single droplet they can be arranged into linear or three-dimensional aggregates that remain at a local energy minimum.
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