Exploration of in-fiber nanostructures from capillary instability

Abstract

A new class of multi-material fiber that incorporates micrometer-thickness concentric-cylindrical sheets of glass into polymer matrix has emerged. The ultimate lower limit of feature size and recent observation of interesting instability phenomenon in fiber system motivate us to examine fluid instabilities during the complicated thermal drawing fabrication processing. In this paper, from the perspective of a single instability mechanism, classical Plateau-Rayleigh instabilities in the form of radial fluctuation, we explore the stability of various microstructures (such as shells and filaments) in our composite fibers. The attained uniform structures are consistent with theoretical analysis. Furthermore, a viscous materials map is established from calculations and agrees well with various identified materials. These results not only shed insights into other forms of fluid instabilities, but also provide guidance to achieve more diverse nanostructures (such as filaments, wires, and particles) in the microstructured fibers.