Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 1, 2025

Temperature-Controlled Assembly and Characterization of a Droplet Interface Bilayer
Published on: April 19, 2021
Phase-field numerical study on the dynamic process of thermocapillary patterning
Qingzhen Yang1,2,3,4, Yankui Liu5, Xinmiao Jia1,2
1The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710049, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
It is well known that surface tension is dependent on temperature, and thus a nonuniform temperature may cause thermocapillary flow which is referred to as the Marangoni effect. For a thin liquid-air film confined between a flat hot plate and a topographical cold template, it undergoes deformation due to thermocapillary flow. This phenomenon is termed as thermocapillary patterning, and has been used to fabricate micro- and nanostructure in polymer films. In most cases, the obtained structure conforms to the template; i.e., it can be considered as a replication technique. In this paper, we developed a two-phase flow numerical model based on the phase field to study the dynamic process of thermocapillary patterning. As a remeshing-free method, the phase field enables the incorporation of thermal field and multiphase flow with free surface deformation. The numerical model was employed to study the dynamic process of thermocapillary patterning. Meanwhile, the effects of some parameters, e.g., temperature, geometry parameters, and contact angle, were also investigated.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer II
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer I
Mechanisms of Heat Transfer
Conduction, accounting for approximately 3% of body heat loss at rest, is the process of exchanging heat between molecules of two materials in direct contact. This can result in both heat loss and gain. For instance, when the body is submerged in water, which conducts heat 20 times more effectively than air, it can either lose or gain significant...
Steady, Laminar Flow Between Parallel Plates
Couette Flow

