This volume, which is written for newcomers as well as experienced researchers in the field, explains wetting phenomena when a liquid partially or completely wets solid or immiscible liquid surfaces. It employs principles and terminology drawn from colloid science, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics to solve equilibrium and dynamic problems in wetting and spreading. The authors introduce novel, experimentally verified, universal spreading laws that apply to the spreading over porous and nonporous substrates. They also investigate the influence of surfactants on kinetics of spreading over hydrophobic surfaces, imbibition in hydrophobic porous substrates, non-Newtonian liquids, and Marangoni phenomena.

From the Preface: “...In the processes of wetting or spreading, three phases — air, liquid, and solids — meet along a line, which is referred to as a three-phase contact line...In the vicinity of a three-phase contact line, the thickness of the droplet becomes very thin and, even more, virtually tends to zero. In a thin water layer, new very special forces come into play. These forces are well known in colloid science: forces in thin layers between interfaces of neighbor particles, droplets, and bubbles in suspensions and emulsions...”

Target Audience: Researchers in industry and academia working in chemical engineering, chemistry, hydrodynamics, applied math, and physics, who are interested in the dynamics of wetting.

Table of Contents:

Surface Forces and the Equilibrium of Liquids on Solid Substrates

Equilibrium Wetting Phenomena

Kinetics of Wetting

Spreading Over Porous Surfaces

Dynamics of Wetting or Spreading in the Presence of Surfactants

Index