Critical effects at 3D wedge wetting

We show that continuous filling transitions are possible in 3D wedge geometries made from substrates exhibiting first-order wetting transitions, and develop a fluctuation theory yielding a complete classification of the critical behavior. Our fluctuation theory is based on the derivation of a Ginzburg criterion for filling and also on an exact transfer-matrix analysis of a novel effective Hamiltonian that we propose as a model for wedge fluctuation effects. The influence of interfacial fluctuations is very strong and, in particular, leads to a remarkable universal divergence of the interfacial roughness xi( perpendicular) approximately (T(F)-T)(-1/4) on approaching the filling temperature T(F), valid for all possible types of intermolecular forces.     

Mean-field phenomenology of wetting in nanogrooves

ABSTRACT

In this special issue article, we bring together our recent research on wetting in confinement, in particular planar walls, wedges, capillary grooves and slit pores, with emphasis on phase transitions and competition between wetting, filling and condensation, and highlight their similarities and disparities. The results presented are obtained with the classical density functional theory (DFT) for fluids, which is a mean-field statistical mechanical framework for including the spatial variations of the fluid density into the thermodynamic equation of state. For wetting in sculpted substrates, we solve numerically the DFT equations to obtain the fluid density profiles, wetting isotherms and phase diagrams. This allows us to contrast the wetting phenomenology of grooves, planar walls, slit and wedge-shaped pores. Of particular interest are the transitions associated with capillary condensation, planar pre-wetting and mean-field wedge pre-filling lines.     

Threshold criterion for wetting at the triple point

Grand canonical simulations are used to calculate adsorption isotherms of various classical gases on alkali metal and Mg surfaces. Ab initio adsorption potentials and Lennard-Jones gas-gas interactions are used. Depending on the system, the resulting behavior can be nonwetting for all temperatures studied, complete wetting, or (in the intermediate case) exhibit a wetting transition. An unusual variety of wetting transitions at the triple point is found in the case of a specific adsorption potential of intermediate strength. The general threshold for wetting near the triple point is found to be close to that predicted with a heuristic model of Cheng et al. This same conclusion was drawn in a recent experimental and simulation study of Ar on CO2 by Mistura et al. These results imply that a dimensionless wetting parameter w is useful for predicting whether wetting behavior is present at and above the triple temperature. The nonwetting/wetting crossover value found here is w approximately 3.3.     

Complete wetting of pits and grooves

For one-component volatile fluids governed by dispersion forces an effective interface Hamiltonian, derived from a microscopic density functional theory, is used to study complete wetting of geometrically structured substrates. Also the long range of substrate potentials is explicitly taken into account. Four types of geometrical patterns are considered: i) one-dimensional periodic arrays of rectangular or parabolic grooves and ii) two-dimensional lattices of cylindrical or parabolic pits. We present numerical evidence that at the centers of the cavity regions the thicknesses of the adsorbed films obey precisely the same geometrical covariance relation, which has been recently reported for complete cone and wedge filling. However, this covariance does not hold for the laterally averaged wetting film thicknesses. For sufficiently deep cavities with vertical walls and close to liquid-gas phase coexistence in the bulk, the film thicknesses exhibit an effective planar scaling regime, which as a function of undersaturation is characterized by a power law with the common critical exponent -1/3 as for a flat substrate, but with the amplitude depending on the geometrical features.     

A mesoscopic model for (de)wetting

We present a mesoscopic model for simulating the dynamics of a non-volatile liquid on a solid substrate. The wetting properties of the solid can be tuned from complete wetting to total non-wetting. This model opens the way to study the dynamics of drops and liquid thin films at mesoscopic length scales of the order of the nanometer. As particular applications, we analyze the kinetics of spreading of a liquid drop wetting a solid substrate and the dewetting of a liquid film on a hydrophobic substrate. In all these cases, very good agreement is found between simulations and theoretical predictions.     

Covariance for cone and wedge complete filling

Interfacial phenomena associated with fluid adsorption in two dimensional systems have recently been shown to exhibit hidden symmetries, or covariances, which precisely relate local adsorption properties in different confining geometries. We show that covariance also occurs in three-dimensional systems and is likely to be verifiable experimentally and in Ising model simulations studies. Specifically, we study complete wetting in wedge (W) and cone (C) geometries as bulk coexistence is approached and show that the equilibrium midpoint heights satisfy l(c)(h,alpha)=l(w)(h / 2,alpha), where h measures the partial pressure and alpha is the tilt angle. This covariance is valid for both short-ranged and long-ranged intermolecular forces and identifies both leading and next-to-leading-order critical exponents and amplitudes in the confining geometries.     

Wetting transitions in polydisperse fluids

The properties of the coexisting bulk gas and liquid phases of a polydisperse fluid depend not only on the prevailing temperature but also on the overall parent density. As a result, a polydisperse fluid near a wall will exhibit density-driven wetting transitions inside the coexistence region. We propose a likely topology for the wetting phase diagram, which we test using Monte Carlo simulations of a model polydisperse fluid at an attractive wall, tracing the wetting line inside the cloud curve and identifying the relationship to prewetting.     

混合流体浸润相变的研究(Ⅰ)——二元系统的两相共存态

本文对二元Sullivan系统两相共存时的浸润相变性质进行解析研究。结果表明,系统相变的性质十分敏感地依赖于模型的参数。本文所用的方法可以方便地用于二元Sullivan系统多相共存的情况。     

Surface Anchoring and Director Distribution in a Grandjean–Cano Wedge

Theoretical calculations of the director distribution in a Grandjean–Cano wedge in relation to the anchoring strength and mutual orientation of the easy axes at the wedge surfaces are performed for various model surface anchoring potentials. Comparison of the theory and experiment allows one to propose the socalled model D-potential, quadratic in angle of director deviation from the easy axes, as the best one in fitting the experiment in the angular range of performed measurements. To satisfy general requirements on the wedge surface, a modified D-potential is proposed. The optimal conditions of the experiment aimed at restoring the potential in the whole range of its definition (in particular, nonparallel orientation of the easy axes at the wedge surfaces) are formulated.     

Wetting, drying, and layering of colloid-polymer mixtures at porous interfaces

The influence of interface porosity on the wetting properties of colloid-polymer mixtures is studied within density functional theory for the Asakura-Oosawa-Vrij model at the surface of a quenched hard-sphere matrix. While the porosity hardly changes the location of the transition from partial to complete wetting at colloidal bulk gas-liquid coexistence, the onset of wetting, as signaled by the first discontinuous layering transition, can be efficiently controlled by tailoring the porosity. We furthermore find that the penetrability of the porous interface induces complete drying into the matrix upon approaching capillary coexistence.     

Coverage-dependent collective diffusion of a dense Pb wetting layer on Si(111)

The dynamics of a dense Pb wetting layer on the Si(111) surface is studied in the framework of a generalized Frenkel-Kontorova model. Instead of the typical diffusion by random hopping processes, a liquidlike collective motion of the Pb atoms within the dense wetting layer is revealed to give rise to ultrafast kinetics of the wetting layer even at low temperatures. A kinetic Monte Carlo simulation including this collective spreading mechanism of the dense wetting layer quantitatively reproduces the experimental observations.     

Pairwise correlations and wetting transitions at a solid-gas interface

We summarize the main results of our study of the density-density correlation function for Sullivan's model of a gas adsorbed on a solid substrate. In the approach to complete wetting, when a thick film of liquid density is adsorbed at the substrate, long-ranged transverse (parallel to the surface) correlations develop at the edge of the film where the density profile is similar to that of a liquid-gas interface. For a class I wetting situation the range of the transverse correlations increases and ultimately diverges as the bulk gas pressure approaches the saturated vapour pressure. We comment on other situations where long-ranged correlations arise and mention the possibility of observing these in diffraction experiments and in computer simulations. Sullivan's model always predicts a second-order phase transition between class II and class I wetting. By extending his model and allowing the attractive part of the solid-fluid potential to be longer-ranged than the attractive fluid-fluid potential we find that this wetting transition can become a first-order (Cahn) transition.     

Wetting properties of rare gases on weak substrates

Since the original prediction that liquid He does not wet Cs at low temperatures and the soon after experimental observation of a wetting transition on this system, noble gases on alkalis have become model systems for the study of wetting transitions and of their accompanying line of prewetting transitions off coexistence. Here we review very briefly the theory of wetting and prewetting and discuss some results on the properties of rare gases adsorbed on alkali surfaces obtained with the use of the density functional theory and of accurate adsorbate-substrate potentials.     

X射线能量谱间接测量方法

X光机的X射线能量谱在CT图像硬化校正、散射校正和定量CT成像等技术中扮演着重要角色。提出了一种通过由质量衰减系数已知的材料构成的楔型模体的扫描数据来恢复X射线能量谱的方法。经GEANT4模拟数据及实采数据验证,该方法能够较好地恢复X光机的X射线能量谱。通过仿真实验,分析了在几个常用电压下模体材质和厚度对恢复X射线能量谱的影响。     

Complete wetting of nanosculptured substrates

Complete wetting of geometrically structured substrates by one-component fluids with long-ranged interactions is studied theoretically. We consider periodic arrays of rectangular or parabolic grooves and lattices of cylindrical or parabolic pits. We show that the midpoint interfacial heights within grooves and pits are related in the same way as for complete wedge and cone filling. For sufficiently deep cavities with vertical walls and small undersaturation, an effective planar scaling regime emerges. The scaling exponent is -1/3 in all cases studied, and only the amplitudes depend on the geometrical features. We find quantitative agreement with recent experimental data for such systems.     

Hydrogen and helium films as model systems of wetting

Optical experiments on the wetting properties of liquid ⁴He and molecular hydrogen are reviewed. Hydrogen films on noble metal surfaces serve as model systems for studying triple point wetting, a continuous transition between wetting and non-wetting. By means of optically excited surface plasmons, the adsorbed film thickness for temperatures around, and far below, the bulk melting temperature is measured, and the physical mechanisms responsible for the transition are elucidated. Possible applications for other experiments in pure and applied research are discussed. Thin films and droplets of liquid helium are studied on cesium surfaces, on which there is a first order wetting transition. Our studies concentrate on dynamical observations via surface plasmon microscopy, which provide insight into the morphology of liquid helium droplets spreading at different temperatures. Features corresponding to pinning forces, the prewetting line, and the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition are clearly observed.     

三维倾斜平板液氧降膜润湿数值模拟研究

建立三维倾斜平板降膜模型,利用VOF两相流模型计算了液氧降膜的润湿情况,研究了工质物性、倾斜角、液膜入口高度对润湿面积的影响。结果表明:Weber数(We)相同时,液氧和水的润湿比均随Kapitza数(Ka)增大而减小;相同Ka下,液氧和水的润湿比均随We增大而增大,而液氧润湿比一直小于水润湿比,两者的差值也随We增大而增大。拟合得到液氧在液膜入口高度0.4 mm、接触角70°时的界面润湿比经验关联式,拟合值和模拟值相对误差≤±20%;在We=0.76时,液氧的润湿比随倾斜角增大而减小,但降低速率随Ka增大而减小;在倾斜角为90°时,易出现液膜脱离壁面的现象;当We固定时,液氧的润湿比随液膜入口高度增大而增大。     

InAs wetting layer evolution on GaAs(0 0 1)

The evolution of two-dimensional (2D) strained InAs wetting layers on GaAs(0 0 1), grown at different temperatures by molecular beam epitaxy, was studied by in situ high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy. At low growth temperature (400 °C), the substrate exhibits a well-defined GaAs(0 0 1)-c(4 × 4) structure. For a disorientation of 0.7°, InAs grows in the step-flow mode and forms an unalloyed wetting layer mainly along steps, but also in part on the terrace. The wetting layer displays some local c(4 × 6) reconstruction, for which a model is proposed. 1.2 monolayer (ML) InAs deposition induces the formation of 3D islands. At a higher temperature (460 °C), the wetting layer is obviously alloyed even at low InAs coverage. The critical thickness of the wetting layer for the 2D-to-3D transition is shifted to 1.50 ML in this case presumably since the strain is reduced by alloying.     

壁面材质和温度场对熔融硅润湿角的影响

本文建立了毛细模型, 采用微流动两相流水平集法计算了熔融态硅液与壁面的润湿角, 以人造金刚石作为壁面材料的计算结果与实验结果进行比较, 验证了该模型和计算方法的正确性. 在此基础上, 分别选用碳化硅、石墨和人造金刚石作为壁面材料, 探讨了不同壁面材料表面张力和壁面黏附力对润湿角的影响规律. 结果发现, 相同温度下的毛细力作用使得熔融硅液出现起伏上升现象; 润湿角均有不同程度的减小然后增大, 最终趋于稳定; 初始阶段, 由于气/熔融硅液表面张力与气/壁面表面张力之差变化较大, 液面起伏波动较大; 随后趋于稳定上升. 同时发现石墨作为壁面材料时, 以上变化更易趋于稳定. 该研究为熔体中生长晶体硅获得更稳定的生长环境提供了理论依据.     

The effect of wetting angle on heat transfer at boiling

The unobvious effect of the limiting wetting angle on heat transfer intensity at boiling is shown. The purposeful experiments allow us to develop the mathematical model, which describes properly the results of experiments on determination of the role of limiting wetting angle: sometimes this role is obvious, sometimes it is ambiguous.