Search results for "Wetting transition"
showing 10 items of 34 documents
Influence of gas environment on the dynamics of wetting transition of laser-textured stainless steel meshes
2021
We analyze the role of surrounding gas and aging in ambient air in the wettability behavior of laser-processed stainless steel meshes. Laser texturing of meshes was carried out in the presence of different gases (N2, O2, CO2, Ar, and SF6) in ambient atmospheric air and under different vacuum conditions. The influence of each gas on the evolution of the wettability properties after aging in ambient air is analyzed. The effects of low-pressure and vacuum aging allowed transforming the initial superhydrophilic characteristics of the laser-structured meshes to an almost superhydrophobic state.
Model calculations for wetting transitions in polymer mixtures
1985
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…
Phase diagram of polymer blends in confined geometry
2001
Within self-consistent field theory we study the phase behavior of a symmetrical binary AB polymer blend confined into a thin film. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short range potentials. One surface attracts the A component and the corresponding smei-infinite system exhibits a first order wetting transition. The surface interaction of the opposite surface is varied as to study the crossover from capillary condensation for symmetric surfaces fields to the interface localization/delocalization transition for antisymmetric surface fields. In the former case the phase diagram has a single critical point close to the bulk critical point. In the latter case the phase diagram exh…
PHASE EQUILIBRIA IN THIN POLYMER FILMS
2001
Within self-consistent field theory and Monte Carlo simulations the phase behavior of a symmetrical binary AB polymer blend confined into a thin film is studied. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short ranged potentials. One surface attracts the A component and the corresponding semi-infinite system exhibits a first order wetting transition. The surface interaction of the opposite surface is varied as to study the crossover from capillary condensation for symmetric surface fields to interface localization/delocalization transition for antisymmetric surface fields. In the former case the phase diagram has a single critical point close to the bulk critical point. In the latter…
How do droplets on a surface depend on the system size?
2002
Abstract We investigate the thermodynamics of inhomogeneous polymer melts in the framework of a coarse grained off-lattice model. Properties of the liquid–vapour interface and the packing of the melt in contact with an attractive wall are considered. We employ Monte Carlo simulations in the grand canonical ensemble to determine excess free energies, the wetting temperature and the pre-wetting line, as well as the pre-wetting critical point. Having determined the wetting properties and the phase diagram of the model polymer, we perform canonical Monte Carlo simulations of small droplets on a surface. This allows us to study the dependence of droplet size on the wetting properties. It is foun…
The interplay between wetting and phase behaviour in binary polymer films and wedges: Monte Carlo simulations and mean field calculations
2005
By confining a binary mixture, one can profoundly alter its miscibility behaviour. The qualitative features of miscibility in confined geometry are rather universal and are shared by polymer mixtures as well as small molecules, but the unmixing transition in the bulk and the wetting transition are typically well separated in polymer blends. We study the interplay between wetting and miscibility of a symmetric polymer mixture via large scale Monte Carlo simulations in the framework of the bond fluctuation model and via numerical self-consistent field calculations. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short-ranged potentials, and the wetting transition of the semi-infinite system …
Heterogeneous nucleation at a wall near a wetting transition: a Monte Carlo test of the classical theory
2009
While for a slightly supersaturated vapor the free energy barrier ΔF(hom)(*), which needs to be overcome in a homogeneous nucleation event, may be extremely large, nucleation is typically much easier at the walls of the container in which the vapor is located. While no nucleation barrier exists if the walls are wet, for incomplete wetting of the walls, described via a nonzero contact angle Θ, classical theory predicts that nucleation happens through sphere-cap-shaped droplets attracted to the wall, and their formation energy is ΔF(het)(*) = ΔF(hom)(*)f(Θ), with f(Θ) = (1-cosΘ)(2)(2+cosΘ)/4. This prediction is tested through simulations for the simple cubic lattice gas model with nearest-nei…
Surface effects on spinodal decomposition in binary mixtures and the interplay with wetting phenomena.
1994
The phase separation of binary mixtures in a semi-infinite geometry is investigated both by a phenomenological theory and by numerical calculations using a discrete equivalent of the descriptive equations. In the framework of ``model B'' (which describes solid binary mixtures), attention is paid to a proper treatment of the boundary conditions at the free surfaces. We confine ourselves to short-range surface forces and consider parameter values that correspond to both nonwet and wet surfaces in thermal equilibrium. During the initial stages of spinodal decomposition, after a quench from considering an initial condition that corresponds to a completely random concentration distribution, one …
Growth Kinetics of Wetting Layers at Surfaces
1990
Monte Carlo simulation of lattice gas models for the wetting transitions in systems with short range forces are described. A nearest-neighbor simple cubic lattice with nonconserved “Glauber dynamics” is used, applying a slab geometry (LxL cross section). It is shown that the growth proceeds in two stages: for short times t, the thickness of the wetting layer at an initially nonwet wall increases proportional to the logarithm of the time; for t » L2(lnL)2 the thickness increases proportional to t1/2/L. Generalizations to other systems are briefly discussed. Also two-dimensional growth of a wetting film at surface steps is considered, considering “terraces” of an LxM geometry with M»L as subs…
Capillary condensation in the two-dimensional lattice gas: A Monte Carlo test of fluctuation corrections to the Kelvin equation
1997
A two-dimensional lattice gas model with nearest-neighbour attractive interaction confined in a strip of width L between two parallel boundaries at which an attractive short-range force acts is studied by Monte Carlo simulations, for cases where the system is in the wet phase near the critical wetting transition line for . We study the shift of the chemical potential of the transition in the strip as a function of L by thermodynamic integration methods, , and also obtain the thickness of the wetting film at the chemical potential at which capillary condensation occurs. In the range the data are consistent with a variation according to the Kelvin equation, , as well as with a shifted Kelvin …