In the minutes immediately preceding the rupture of a soap bubble, distinctive and repeatable patterns can be observed. These quasistable transient structures are associated with the instabilities of the complex Marangoni flows on the curved thin film in the presence of a surfactant solution. Here, we report a generalized Cahn-Hilliard-Swift-Hohenberg model derived using asymptotic theory that describes the quasielastic wrinkling pattern formation and the consequent coarsening dynamics in a curved surfactant-laden thin film. By testing the theory against experiments on soap bubbles, we find quantitative agreement with the analytical predictions of the nucleation and the early coarsening phases associated with the patterns. Our findings provide fundamental physical understanding that can be used to (de-)stabilize thin films in the presence of surfactants and have important implications for both natural and industrial contexts, such as the production of thin coating films, foams, emulsions, and sprays.

在肥皂泡破裂前的几分钟内，可以观察到独特且可重复的模式。这些准稳态瞬态结构与表面活性剂溶液存在下弯曲薄膜上复杂的马兰戈尼流的不稳定性有关。在这里，我们报告了使用渐近理论导出的广义 Cahn-Hilliard-Swift-Hohenberg 模型，该模型描述了弯曲的表面活性剂负载薄膜中的准弹性起皱图案的形成以及随之而来的粗化动力学。通过对肥皂泡的实验测试该理论，我们发现与与模式相关的成核和早期粗化阶段的分析预测定量一致。我们的研究结果提供了基本的物理理解，可用于在存在表面活性剂的情况下使薄膜稳定（去稳定），并且对自然和工业环境具有重要意义，例如薄涂膜、泡沫、乳液和喷雾的生产。