On the kinetics of the rapid spreading of droplets of aqueous trisiloxane solutions over hydrophobic substrates

A theory is developed for the spreading of small droplets of aqueous trisiloxane solutions containing vesicles and forming metastable β-films of micron thickness on the thinning of a drop. On the assumption that the profile of a spreading drop is sloping, hydrodynamic solutions were obtained, which include the gradient of the film disjoining pressure as the moving force. In accordance with the De Gennes theory, the spreading of such droplets terminates by the formation of a flat thick film of a finite radius. Satisfactory agreement was obtained between the calculation results and the published experimental data.