We report the behavior of a thin and flat rectangular polymeric membrane, fixed at both ends, in contact with a solvent droplet. Depending on the solvent type and volume, and membrane thickness, three different regimes —no buckling, buckling, and snapping— are observed. Our study reveals that the behavior depends on the solubility parameter of the solvent and the ratio of the sum of swelling-induced force and capillary force to the elastic restoring force, i.e., the force ratio. We attempt to explain the phenomenon using the poroelastic and elastic recoil timescales. Using correlations from simple scaling, our model can estimate the maximum force ratio in terms of known quantities and predict the operating regime and maximum deflection. We expect our study will find significance in the design and analysis of systems involving flexible microbeams.

我们报道了固定在两端且与溶剂液滴接触的扁平扁平矩形聚合物膜的行为。根据溶剂类型和体积以及膜厚度的不同，可以观察到三种不同的状态-无屈曲，屈曲和折断。我们的研究表明，行为取决于溶剂的溶解度参数以及溶胀诱导力和毛细力之和与弹性回复力之比，即力比。我们试图用多孔弹性和弹性反冲时间尺度来解释这种现象。使用简单比例的相关性，我们的模型可以根据已知量估算最大力比，并预测工作状态和最大挠度。我们希望我们的研究对涉及柔性微束的系统的设计和分析具有重要意义。