Wetting Phenomena Near the Melting Curve

A study of the location of the hard sphere crystal-fluid phase transition and equilibrium wetting states for systems in contact with various hard substrates was undertaken using Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamics (MD) techniques. Through the use of MD the phase transition was found to occur at the crystal density \rho\sb{c}σ\sp3 = 1.036 and fluid density \rho\sb{f}σ\sp3 = 0.943. The equilibrium wetting state against a smooth hard wall was shown through MD to be that of complete wetting by crystal. It was demonstrated that wall structure can be used to induce a wetting state of complete wetting by fluid. A new MC technique was developed with which the surface free energy of various interfaces can be calculated. The surface free energies of the interfaces involving the smooth hard wall were in agreement with both the present MD simulations and existing theoretical work for the fluid-wall interface. The surface free energy technique was extended to include interfaces with structured walls, although those results are less conclusive.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Chemical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Courtemanche, David James

Contributors dc:contributor

• van Swol, Frank

• Engineering, Chemical

Identifier

(UMI)AAI9411599

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/72145