Abstract
The wetting of solids by liquids is connected to physical chemistry (wettability), to statistical physics (pinning of the contact line, wetting transitions, etc.), to long-range forces (van der Waals, double layers), and to fluid dynamics. The present review represents an attempt towards a unified picture with special emphasis on certain features of "dry spreading": (a) the final state of a spreading droplet need not be a monomolecular film; (b) the spreading drop is surrounded by a precursor film, where most of the available free energy is spent; and (c) polymer melts may slip on the solid and belong to a separate dynamical class, conceptually related to the spreading of superfluids.
Keywords
WettingStaticsvan der Waals forcePhysicsWetting transitionSuperfluiditySlip (aerodynamics)Drop (telecommunication)DewettingChemical physicsNanotechnologyClassical mechanicsMechanicsCondensed matter physicsThermodynamicsMaterials scienceQuantum mechanicsMechanical engineering
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1985
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 827-863
- Citations
- 6986
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
P. G. de Gennes
(1985).
Wetting: statics and dynamics.
Reviews of Modern Physics
, 57
(3)
, 827-863.
https://doi.org/10.1103/revmodphys.57.827
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1103/revmodphys.57.827