Formation of beads-on-a-string structures during breakup of viscoelastic filaments

by Pradeep P. Bhat, Santosh Appathurai, Michael T. Harris, Matteo Pasquali, Gareth H. McKinley and Osman A. Basaran

Breakup of viscoelastic filaments is pervasive in both nature and technology. If a filament is formed by placing a drop of saliva between a thumb and forefinger and is stretched, the filament’s morphology close to breakup corresponds to beads of several sizes interconnected by slender threads. Although there is general agreement that formation of such beads -on-a-string (BOAS) structures only occurs for viscoelastic fluids, the underlying physics remains unclear and controversial. The physics leading to the formation of BOAS structures is probed by numerical simulation. Computations reveal that viscoelasticity alone does not give rise to a small, satellite bead between two much larger main beads but that inertia is required for its formation. Viscoelasticity, however, enhances the growth of the bead and delays pinch-off, which leads to a relatively long-lived beaded structure. We also show for the first time theoretically that yet smaller, sub-satellite beads can also form as seen in experiments.