Surface textures suppress viscoelastic braking on soft substrates

A gravity-driven droplet will rapidly flow down an inclined substrate, resisted only by stresses inside the liquid. If the substrate is compliant, with an elastic modulus G < 100 kPa, the droplet will markedly slow as a consequence of viscoelastic braking. This phenomenon arises due to deformations of the solid at the moving contact line, enhancing dissipation in the solid phase. Here, we pattern compliant surfaces with textures and probe their interaction with droplets. We show that the superhydrophobic Cassie state, where a droplet is supported atop air-immersed textures, is preserved on soft textured substrates. Confocal microscopy reveals that every texture in contact with the liquid is deformed by capillary stresses. This deformation is coupled to liquid pinning induced by the orientation of contact lines atop soft textures. Thus, compared to flat substrates, greater forcing is required for the onset of drop motion when the soft solid is textured. Surprisingly, droplet velocities down inclined soft or hard textured substrates are indistinguishable; the textures thus suppress viscoelastic braking despite substantial fluid-solid contact. High-speed microscopy shows that contact line velocities atop the pillars vastly exceed those associated with viscoelastic braking. This velocity regime involves less deformation, thus less dissipation, in the solid phase. Such rapid motions are only possible because the textures introduce a new scale and contact-line geometry. The contact-line orientation atop soft pillars induces significant deflections of the pillars on the receding edge of the droplet; calculations confirm that this does not slow down the droplet.