Equilibrium of droplets on a deformable substrate: Influence of disjoining pressure

Abstract Equilibrium of liquid droplets on soft deformable substrates is investigated. Disjoining pressure action in the vicinity of the apparent three phase contact line is taken into account. It is shown that the combined disjoining and capillary pressure action determine the substrate deformation. A simplified linear disjoining pressure isotherm and simple Winkler's model to account for the substrate deformation are used which allows deducing analytical solutions for both the liquid profile and the substrate deformation. The apparent equilibrium contact angle of the liquid droplet with the deformable substrate is calculated and its dependency on the system parameters is investigated.