Morphological transitions of drop configurations on ribbon-like fibers

The classification of equilibrium shapes of liquid bodies on ribbons has been done in a limiting case when the deposited drops are larger than the ribbon width yet small enough not to deform the surface by its own weight. In contrast to cylindrical fibers, the ribbons were not able to accommodate the barrel-like drops: only the one-sided liquid columns and the clam-shell drops were observed in this series of experiments. The two-sided columns and clam-shells were formed by coating the ribbons with thin films and letting the film break due to its inherent capillary instability. A simple mechanical reasoning for the column/clam-shell transition is offered.