Abstract of the 68th Meeting (Spring Meeting) 6–9 March 1990, Heidelberg

Dynamics of wetting transitions: A time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau treatment

The dynamic behavior at wetting transitions is studied for systems with short-range forces and nonconserved order parameter. From a continuum limit of a purely relaxational lattice model in mean-field approximation, a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation with a time-dependent boundary condition at the surface is derived in the long wavelength approximation. The dynamics of relaxation close to stable and metastable states is treated in linear response. A divergence of the relaxation time occurs both for critical wetting and along the surface spinodal lines (in the case of first-order wetting), although the static surface layer susceptibilities χ1, χ11 stay finite at the surface spinodal i…

Model calculations for wetting transitions in polymer mixtures

Partially compatible binary mixtures of linear flexible polymers are considered in the presence of a wall which preferentially adsorbs one component. Using a Flory-Huggins type mean field approach, it is shown that in typical cases at two-phase coexistence the wall is always « wet », i.e. coated with a macroscopically thick layer of the preferred phase, and the transition to the non wet state occurs at volume fractions of the order of 1/~N (where N is the chain length) at the coexistence curve. Both first and second order wetting transitions are found, and the variation of the surface layer thickness, surface excess energy and related quantities through the transition is studied. We discuss…