Static and Dynamic Wettability: Contact Angles and Their Microscopic Origins

这个项目涉及液体在固体表面的润湿和扩散的基本的、微观的方面。理解和控制这些现象既提出了科学问题，也提出了技术问题。静态和动态现象将利用光学、X射线和中子技术在宏观和微观尺度上进行探索。一个目标是了解宏观接触角的行为及其对所涉及材料性能的依赖。另一个目标是通过流体在接触线及其附近的界面所限制的流体的微观结构和动力学来理解宏观行为的起源，接触线是流体在固体表面结束的点。拟议的研究结果将提高对基本润湿现象的理解，并将增加以润湿和铺展为主的先进材料和工艺过程所需的工程所需的科学基础。

This project deals with fundamental, microscopic aspects of the wetting and spreading of fluids on solid surfaces. Understanding and controlling these phenomena pose both scientific questions and technological problems. Static and dynamic phenomena will be probed on both the macroscopic and microscopic scales using optical, x-ray and neutron techniques. One goal is to understand the behavior of macroscopic contact angles and their dependence on properties of the materials involved. A further goal is to understand the origins of the macroscopic behavior with the microscopic structures and dynamics of fluids confined by the interfaces at and near the contact line, the point where the fluid body ends at the solid surface. Results of the proposed research will improve the understanding of fundamental wetting phenomena and will add to the needed scientific basis needed for engineering advanced materials and technological processes dominated by wetting and spreading.