Search results for "Wetting"
showing 10 items of 235 documents
Dynamics of wetting transitions: A time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau treatment
1987
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…
Surface-directed spinodal decomposition: Lattice model versus Ginzburg-Landau theory
2009
When a binary mixture is quenched into the unstable region of the phase diagram, phase separation starts by spontaneous growth of long-wavelength concentration fluctuations ("spinodal decomposition"). In the presence of surfaces, the latter provide nontrivial boundary conditions for this growth. These boundary conditions can be derived from lattice models by suitable continuum approximations. But the lattice models can also be simulated directly, and thus used to clarify the conditions under which the Ginzburg–Landau type theory is valid. This comparison shows that the latter is accurate only in the immediate vicinity of the bulk critical point, if thermal fluctuations can also be neglecte…
Surface effects on spinodal decomposition in binary mixtures: The case with long-ranged surface fields
1997
We present detailed numerical results for phase-separation kinetics of critical binary mixtures in the vicinity of a surface that exerts a long-ranged attractive force on one of the components of the mixture. We consider surface potentials of the form $V(Z)\ensuremath{\sim}{Z}^{\ensuremath{-}n}$, where $Z$ is the distance from the surface and $n=1,2,3$. In particular, we investigate the interplay of the surface wetting layer with the dynamics of domain growth. We find that the wetting layer at the surface exhibits power-law growth with an exponent that depends on $n$, in contrast to the case with a short-ranged surface potential, where the growth is presumably logarithmic. From correlation …
Study of the dynamic growth of wetting layers in the confined Ising model with competing surface fields
2006
A two-dimensional magnetic Ising system confined in an L × D geometry () in the presence of competing magnetic fields (h) acting at opposite walls along the D-direction exhibits an interface between domains of different orientation that runs parallel to the walls. In the limit of infinite film thickness () this interface undergoes a wetting transition that occurs at the critical curve Tw(h), so that for T<Tw(h) such an interface is bound to the walls, while for Tw(h)≤T≤Tcb the interface is freely fluctuating around the centre of the film, where Tcb is the bulk critical temperature. Starting from a monodomain structure with the interface bound to one wall, we study the onset of the interface…
Dynamics of surface enrichment: A theory based on the Kawasaki spin-exchange model in the presence of a wall
1991
A mean-field theory is developed for the description of the dynamics of surface enrichment in binary mixtures, where one component is favored by an impenetrable wall. Assuming a direct exchange (Kawasaki-type) model of interdiffusion, a layerwise molecular-field approximation is formulated in the framework of a lattice model. Also the corresponding continuum theory is considered, paying particular attention to the proper derivation of boundary conditions for the differential equation at the hard wall. As an application, we consider the explicit solutions of the derived equations in the case where nonlinear effects can be neglected, studying the approach of an initially flat (homogeneous) co…
Simulation of surface-controlled phase separation in slit pores: Diffusive Ginzburg-Landau kinetics versus Molecular Dynamics
2008
The phase separation kinetics of binary fluids in constrained geometry is a challenge for computer simulation, since nontrivial structure formation occurs extending from the atomic scale up to mesoscopic scales, and a very large range of time needs to be considered. One line of attack to this problem is to try nevertheless standard Molecular Dynamics (MD), another approach is to coarse-grain the model to apply a time-dependent nonlinear Ginzburg–Landau equation that is numerically integrated. For a symmetric binary mixture confined between two parallel walls that prefer one species, both approaches are applied and compared to each other. There occurs a nontrivial interplay between the forma…
Finite-size scaling approach for critical wetting: rationalization in terms of a bulk transition with an order parameter exponent equal to zero.
2012
Clarification of critical wetting with short-range forces by simulations has been hampered by the lack of accurate methods to locate where the transition occurs. We solve this problem by developing an anisotropic finite-size scaling approach and show that then the wetting transition is a ``bulk'' critical phenomenon with order parameter exponent equal to zero. For the Ising model in two dimensions, known exact results are straightforwardly reproduced. In three dimensions, it is shown that previous estimates for the location of the transition need revision, but the conclusions about a slow crossover away from mean-field behavior remain unaltered.
Calculation of the wetting parameter from a cluster model in the framework of nanothermodynamics
2003
The critical wetting parameter ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{c}$ determines the strength of interfacial fluctuations in critical wetting transitions. In this Brief Report, we calculate ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{c}$ from considerations on critical liquid clusters inside a vapor phase. The starting point is a cluster model developed by Hill and Chamberlin in the framework of nanothermodynamics [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 12779 (1998)]. Our calculations yield results for ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{c}$ between 0.52 and 1.00, depending on the degrees of freedom considered. The findings are in agreement with previous experimental results and give an idea of the universal dynamical behavior of the cluste…
Universality classes for wetting in two-dimensional random-bond systems
1991
Interface-unbinding transitions, such as those arising in wetting phenomena, are studied in two-dimensional systems with quenched random impurities and general interactions. Three distinct universality classes or scaling regimes are investigated using scaling arguments and extensive transfer-matrix calculations. Both the critical exponents and the critical amplitudes are determined for the weak- and the strong-fluctuation regime. In the borderline case of the intermediate-fluctuation regime, the asymptotic regime is not accessible to numerical simulations. We also find strong evidence for a nontrivial delocalization transition of an interface that is pinned to a line of defects.
Wetting in fluid systems. Wetting and capillary condensation of lattice gases in thin film geometry
1994
Monte Carlo studies of lattice gas models with attractive interactions between nearest neighbors on a simple cubic lattice are carried out for a L×L×D geometry with two hard walls of size L×L and periodic boundary conditions parallel to the wall. Two types of short-range forces at the walls are considered: (i) Both walls are of the same type and exert an attractive force of the same strength (in Ising model terminology, surface fields HD = H1 occur). (ii) The walls differ, one attracts and the other repels particles, again with the same strength (HD = −H1). In the first case, capillary condensation occurs at a chemical potential differing from its value for phase coexistence in the bulk, an…