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Updated: May 23, 2026

Measuring and Modeling Contractile Drying in Human Stratum Corneum
Published on: March 1, 2017
Auto-stratification in drying colloidal dispersions: a diffusive model
R E Trueman1, E Lago Domingues, S N Emmett
1Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3RA, UK.
Abstract:
The mechanism by which the particles in a drying film come into close packing during solvent evaporation has an important role to play in the final film morphology. During drying the particles can develop non-uniform concentrations across the vertical height of the film, depending on their diffusion rate. By applying the principles of classical diffusion mechanics to a hard sphere system, a theory for this novel method of stratification during drying of a two component film has been derived. The model is dependent on the particle Peclet numbers and when one is above unity and the other below, maximum stratification is observed.
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