Stratification Dynamics of Thin Films Made from Aqueous Micellar Solutions

The stratification dynamics of thin circular horizontal soap films was studied experimentally. A series of metastable circular stratification domains with different thicknesses were observed. Bubble-form instabilities of Rayleigh's type always appear at the borders of the thinnest domains. It has been found that the diameter of the stratification domains with bubble instabilities grows with a constant velocity, whereas in the absence of bubbles the diameter increases proportionally to the square root of time. A phenomenological model explaining this behaviour is proposed.