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Wetting against the nap - how asperity inclination determines unidirectional spreading
Elise Contraires1, Jérémie Teisseire2, Elin Søndergård3
1Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes, UMR5513, CNRS, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, 36 avenue Guy de Collongue, FR-69134 Ecully cedex, France.
Textured surfaces exhibit unique wetting behavior. Asperity inclination causes unidirectional liquid spreading, with decreasing contact angles, explained by Gibbs pinning and imbibition effects.
Area of Science:
- Surface Science
- Fluid Dynamics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Understanding liquid behavior on textured surfaces is crucial for various applications.
- The Wenzel state describes a wetting regime on rough surfaces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of asperity inclination on liquid spreading on textured surfaces.
- To analyze the underlying physical mechanisms governing this phenomenon.
Main Methods:
- Performed wetting experiments on surfaces with high aspect ratio asperities.
- Conducted numerical analysis to model the observed liquid spreading behavior.
Main Results:
- Observed strictly unidirectional liquid spreading opposite to asperity direction.
- Found a marked decrease in advancing contact angle with increasing inclination.
- Numerical analysis highlighted interplay between Gibbs pinning and imbibition.
Conclusions:
- Asperity inclination significantly influences wetting dynamics on textured surfaces.
- Gibbs pinning and imbibition are key factors in unidirectional spreading.
- Simple averaging models are insufficient for describing complex wetting evolution.
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