Metastable wetting state

Wettability Wetting dynamics Roughness factor Roughness geometry Drop vibration Metastable wetting state Most stable wetting state Superhydrophilicity... 

As pointed out earlier in Chap. 3, both 0a and 0r are angles from their respective metastable wetting states. Their equivalent Young s equations can be written as... 

Fig. 51. Plol of — t)(iiZ)/i)Z z=u versus /j(0) for the cases of a second-order wetting transition (a) and a first-order wetting transition (b). The solution consistent with the boundary condition always is found by intersection of the curve /x2(0) - 1 with the straight line [h + gq.(0)]/y. In case (a) this solution is unique for all choices of k /y (keeping the order parameter g/y fixed). Critical wetting occurs for the case where the solution (denoted by a dot) occurs for y (0) = +1, where then ) i(Z)/dZ z u = I) and hence the interface is an infinite distance away from the surface. For ft] > ftlc the surface is non-wet while for fti > ft C the surface is wet. In case (b) the solution is unique for ft] < ft (only a non-wet state of the surface occurs) and for ft > ft (only a wet state of the surface occurs). For ft > ft] > ft three intersections (denoted by A, B, C in the figure) occur, B being always unstable, while A is stable and C metastable for ft]c > ft > ft and A is metastable and C stable for ft " > ft > ftic. At ftic where the exchange of stability between A and C occurs (i.e., the first-order wetting transition) the shaded areas in fig. 51b are equal. This construction is the surface counterpart of the Maxwell-type construction of the first-order transition in the bulk lsing model (cf. fig. 37). From Schmidt and Binder (1987).

Fig. 2. A simplified drawing of the Gibbs energy curve for a real wetting system. Each minimum defines a metastable state. The lowest minimum defines the most stable state and the most stable, apparent contact angle (MSAPCA). The lowest and highest APCAs that are associated with a metastable state are the receding contact angle (RCA) and the advancing contact angle (ADCA), respectively.

In another study the same authors looked in a similar way, at wetting on a chemically homogeneous surface with a sinusoidal corrugation. From this study emerged the relevance of the energy barriers, that separated metastable states. 

Conditions can be deduced from the energy balance mentioned above under which the rewetting tension is positive, a precondition for the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.12. It should be said that re-wetting is the first step in the complex process of removal of hydrophobic layers from a solid. The oil droplets formed must also be sufficiently stabilised by the surfactant to prevent them coalescing. This takes place in many cleaning processes. When a water-insoluble substance is to be dispersed in water we can distinguish between thermodynamically stable and unstable dispersions. Thermodynamically unstable dispersions are the usual emulsions or dispersions of solids. Solubilisation systems and optically transparent emulsions, so-called micro-emulsions, are in a metastable state where drop growing by collision and coalescence cannot be completely suppressed. These systems are frequently called thermodynamically stable. 

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