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Updated: May 14, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Universal phase diagram for wetting on mesoscale roughness
1Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Fassberg 17, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
The wetting properties of solid substrates with mesoscale (between van der Waals tails and the capillary length) random roughness are considered as a function of the microscopic contact angle of the wetting liquid and its partial pressure in the surrounding gas phase. It is shown that the well-known transition occurring at Wenzel's angle is accompanied by a transition line at which a jump in the adsorbed liquid volume occurs. This should be present generally on surfaces bearing homogeneous, isotropic random roughness. While a similar abrupt filling transition has been reported before for certain idealized groove or trough geometries, it is identified here as a universal phenomenon. Its location can be analytically calculated under certain mild conditions.
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