Elapsed time for crack formation during drying.

The drying of colloidal films usually leads to mechanical instabilities that affect the uniformity of the final deposit. The resulting patterns are the signature of the mechanical stress, and reveal the way the system consolidates. We report experimental results on the crack patterns induced by the drying of sessile drops of concentrated dispersions. Crack patterns exhibit a well-defined spatial order, and a regular temporal periodicity. In addition, the onset of cracking occurs after a well-defined elapsed time that depends on the mechanical properties of the gel, and on the drying kinetics. The estimation of the time elapsed before cracks form is related to the elastic properties of the material. This is supported by quantitative measurements using indentation testing and by a simple scaling law derived from poro-elastic theory.