A study of rupture process of thin liquid films by a molecular dynamics simulation

Three-dimensional ruptures in both thin films on plates and free thin films have been studied, using molecular dynamics simulations. The rupture process simulated in this work is divided into two stages. They are the stage from the initial equilibrium state to the occurrence of the rupture and the stage from this occurrence to the final state of the rupture. In this study, it is found that for the free film larger liquid–liquid potential induces quicker rupture speed, while for the film on a plate, smaller solid–liquid potential results in not only larger occurrence and spreading speeds of the rupture but also larger contact angle between solid and liquid. In the first rupture stage, the result obtained in this work is qualitatively similar to that predicted by the macroscopic rupture theory. In the second stage, the simulations of this work can help describe the evolutions of ruptures in detail, which the macroscopic theory is no longer able to do.