Meniscus and viscous forces during separation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic smooth/rough surfaces with symmetric and asymmetric contact angles

Adhesive or repulsive forces contributed by both meniscus and viscous forces can be significant and become one of the main reliability issues when the contacting surfaces are ultra smooth, and the normal load is small, as is common for micro/nano devices. In this study, both meniscus and viscous forces during separation for smooth and rough hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces are studied. The effects of separation distance, initial meniscus height, separation time, contact angle and roughness are presented. Meniscus force decreases with an increase of separation distance, whereas the viscous force has an opposite trend. Both forces decrease with an increase of initial meniscus height. An increase of separation time, initial meniscus height or a decrease of contact angle leads to an increase of critical meniscus area at which both forces are equivalent. An increase in contact angle leads to a decrease of attractive meniscus force but an increase of repulsive meniscus force (attractive or repulsive dependent on hydrophilic or hydrophobic surface, respectively). Contact angle has a limited effect on the viscous force. For asymmetric contact angles, the magnitude of the meniscus force and the critical meniscus area are in between the values for the two angles. An increase in the number of surface asperities (roughness) leads to an increase of meniscus force; however, its effect on viscous force is trivial. A slightly attractive force is observed for the hydrophobic surface during the end stage of separation though the magnitude is small. The study provides a fundamental understanding of the physics of the separation process and it can be useful for control of the forces in nanotechnology applications.     

Meniscus and viscous forces during separation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces with liquid-mediated contacts

Adhesion due to the formation of meniscus bridges has been of interest since the early 20th century. Extensive studies have been carried out analytically and numerically. Adhesive or repulsive forces contributed by meniscus and adhesive viscous forces can be significant and become one of the main reliability issues when the contacting surfaces are smooth and/or when the normal load is small, as is common for micro/nanodevices. Previous numerical studies mainly focus on static meniscus analysis for hydrophilic surfaces. More recently, analysis of meniscus and viscous forces during separation of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces with symmetric and asymmetric contact angles have been carried out. These studies are useful to understand the relative roles of meniscus and viscous forces during the separation process. In this paper, a comprehensive review of analytical and numerical modeling of the meniscus and viscous forces are presented. The analyses for both forces during normal and tangential separation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic smooth or rough surfaces with symmetric and asymmetric contact angles, and viscous forces during tangential separation are presented. The analyses provide a fundamental understanding of the physics of the separation process and insight into the relationships between meniscus and viscous forces. Implications of these analyses in macro/micro/nanotechnologies are discussed.     

Superwetting Surfaces under Different Media: Effects of Surface Topography on Wettability

Superwetting surfaces in air, such as superhydrophobic and superoleophobic surfaces that are governed by surface chemical compositions and surface topographies, are one of the most extensively studied topics in this field. However, it is not well‐understood how surface topographies affect the behaviors of immiscible liquids and gases under other kinds of media, although it is significant in diverse fields. The main aim of this work is to systematically investigate the wetting behaviors of liquids (water and oil) and gas (air) on silicon surfaces with different topographies (i.e., smooth, micro, nano, and micro‐/nanostructures) under various media (i.e., air, water, and oil). The contact angles, as well as contact‐angle hysteresis, sliding angles, and adhesive forces, were utilized to evaluate the wettability of these surfaces. As a result, the microstructured surfaces typically exhibit high contact‐angle hysteresis, high sliding angles, and high adhesive forces, whereas the micro‐/nanostructured surfaces display low contact‐angle hysteresis, low sliding angles, and low adhesive forces, even if they have high (>150°) and similar contact angles. Furthermore, when transferring the same surface from one kind of medium to another, different superwetting states can be reversibly switched.     

The adhesion model considering capillarity for gecko attachment system.

Geckos make use of approximately a million microscale hairs (setae) that branch off into hundreds of nanoscale spatulae to cling to different smooth and rough surfaces and detach at will. This hierarchical surface construction gives the gecko the adaptability to create a large real area of contact with surfaces. It is known that van der Waals force is the primary mechanism used to adhere to surfaces, and capillary force is a secondary effect that can further increase adhesive force. To investigate the effects of capillarity on gecko adhesion, we considered the capillary force as well as the solid-to-solid interaction. The capillary force expressed in terms of elliptical integral is calculated by numerical method to cope with surfaces with a wide range of contact angles. The adhesion forces exerted by a single gecko spatula in contact with planes with different contact angles for various relative humidities are calculated, and the contributions of capillary force to total adhesion force are evaluated. The simulation results are compared with experimental data. Finally, using the three-level hierarchical model recently developed to simulate a gecko seta contacting with random rough surface, the effect of the relative humidity and the hydrophobicity of surface on the gecko adhesion is investigated.     

Interfacial effects in the flow-bead test for vitreous enamels

Evidence is presented that the rate of flow of a liquid enamel bead down a vertical plate depends on the nature of the plate surface. Two surfaces were compared. One was an enamel surface of the same composition as the bead, and therefore molten during the test; the other was a porous refractory coat that was solid at the test temperature. The rate of flow was greater over the refractory surface. Measurement of contact angles for the flowing beads and for sessile drops led to the conclusion that the surface tension forces per unit width were similar for the drops on the two surfaces. However, the gravitational force per unit width was higher for the drop on the refractory surface. This is responsible for the higher rate of flow over the refractory surface, and arises from the lower rate of lateral spreading of the bead caused by viscous resistance to the flow of the enamel through microchannels in the rough surface.     

Nanogeometry matters: unexpected decrease of capillary adhesion forces with increasing relative humidity

The sticking effect between hydrophilic surfaces occurring at increasing relative humidity (RH) is an everyday phenomenon with uncountable implications. Here experimental evidence is presented for a counterintuitive monotonous decrease of the capillary adhesion forces between hydrophilic surfaces with increasing RH for the whole humidity range. It is shown that this unexpected result is related to the actual shape of the asperity at the nanometer scale: a model based on macroscopic thermodynamics predicts this decrease in the adhesion force for a sharp object ending in an almost flat nanometer-sized apex, in full agreement with experiments. This anomalous decrease is due to the fact that a significant growth of the liquid meniscus formed at the contact region with increasing humidity is hindered for this geometry. These results are relevant in the analysis of the dynamical behavior of nanomenisci. They could also have an outstanding value in technological applications, since the undesirable sticking effect between surfaces occurring at increasing RH could be avoided by controlling the shape of the surface asperities at the nanometric scale.     

Wet but not slippery: Boundary friction in tree frog adhesive toe pads.

Tree frogs are remarkable for their capacity to cling to smooth surfaces using large toe pads. The adhesive skin of tree frog toe pads is characterized by peg-studded hexagonal cells separated by deep channels into which mucus glands open. The pads are completely wetted with watery mucus, which led previous authors to suggest that attachment is solely due to capillary and viscous forces generated by the fluid-filled joint between the pad and the substrate. Here, we present evidence from single-toe force measurements, laser tweezer microrheometry of pad mucus and interference reflection microscopy of the contact zone in Litoria caerulea, that tree frog attachment forces are significantly enhanced by close contacts and boundary friction between the pad epidermis and the substrate, facilitated by the highly regular pad microstructure.     

DISPLACEMENT OF PARTICLES DEPOSITED ON SOLID SURFACES BY A MOVING GAS-LIQUID-SOLID INTERFACE

Deposited small particles change their position and can build aggregates on surfaces when wetted/dewetted. The size and form of these aggregates depend on the amount of water condensed, the form of the particles and the contact angles. Experiments with glass spheres and quartz particles on three different surfaces with water as wetting liquid were carried out. Results of the wetting/dewetting experiments are shown and discussed. A model is presented to estimate the magnitude of involved forces and the displacement of the particles taking into account contact angles, amount of condensed water, and size of particles. The model explains, why particles, as observed, tend to gather near the edge of a droplet at small surface contact angles and near the droplet center at high surface contact angles.     

Experimental and numerical determination of the lubrication force between a spherical particle and a micro-structured surface

In many particulate processes suspensions need to be handled. Hydrodynamic forces in presence of a liquid as a surrounding continuum medium can significantly affect the particle collision behaviour. When particles approach a wall, lubrication force can become dominant with decreasing distance. This force was described analytically by different authors for a smooth flat wall. Roughness was found to be an important factor in this context, but the mechanisms are still not fully understood. In this work, the effects of topology on the lubrication force were studied using a regular prismatic micro-structured titanium surface produced by micro-milling. A nanoindentation setup was modified for the direct measurement of this force during the particle approach to polished and micro-structured surfaces in liquid. For a more detailed insight on the behaviour of the fluid in the decreasing gap between particle and surface microstructure, resolved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed using an overset mesh method. The comparison of simulation results with nanoindentation tests and analytical solution showed a good agreement. The effects of structure size and particle contact location at various approaching velocities on the lubrication force were investigated.     

Model of intensive inter-phase interaction between high temperature melt and cold volatile fluid

The fragmentation of the molten metal drop in the cold volatile liquid was studied. Two cases of water surface temperature were investigated: a—lower than its critical meaning during direct contact with melt, and b—higher than the critical one. The criterion determining existence of the fragmentation was presented for the first case. In the second case, that is being more complicated, possibility of the direct contact between the surrounding liquid and the melted metal surface and development of the instability on both surfaces were studied. It was shown that the fragmentation mechanism for the second case is strongly dependent on the characteristic time of the direct water-melt contact. The characteristic time must be sufficient enough for liquid water to interact with the melt before generation of the vapor layer between two surfaces. The process that follows the contact of water with the melted metal and a high pressure region formation was considered. The fragmentation mechanism, based on the analogy with the known problem, when a body with a flat circular nose impacts upon a flat liquid surface, was presented. Mean velocity and mean width of the generated jets from the melt surface were calculated.     

Simulation of Adhesive–Dissipative Behavior of a Microparticle Under the Oblique Impact

The adhesive–dissipative behavior of a microparticle under the oblique impact is investigated numerically and the new discrete element method (DEM)-compatible interaction model is elaborated. The modeling approach is based on the Derjaguin–Muller–Toporov model of normal interaction for the adhesive elastic contact. Adhesion hysteresis is specified by the loss of the kinetic energy governed by the fixed amount of the adhesion work, required to separate two adhesive contacting surfaces. This effect is captured in the new interaction model by adding an additional dissipative force component to normal contact during unloading and detachment. The essential feature of this approach, differing from that of the viscous damping model, is that, according to the proposed method, the amount of the dissipated energy is not influenced by the actual initial velocity during the entire contact. The influence of adhesion on slip friction is reflected by considering the adhesive normal force components in the Coulomb's law of friction. The contribution of the adhesion-related dissipation is illustrated by a comparison of the behavior of the attractive–dissipative and attractive–non-dissipative models. The oblique impact of a microparticle on the plane surface at the intermediate impact angle is also investigated numerically. The link between adhesion and friction is supported by the numerical results.     

Study of capillary interaction between two grains: a new experimental device with suction control

We investigated the behavior of a water liquid bridge formed between two grains. We mainly focused on tensile tests with suction control (capillary pressure). Theoretical and experimental studies are compared. A new experimental device involving suction control of the liquid bridge was developed specifically for this kind of test. Most of the liquid bridge variables and characteristics were measured by image analysis (gorge radius, volume, contact angles, filling angles). Capillary force was measured by differential weighting. Experimental conditions allows us to avoid viscous effects. Our experimental results were close to Young-Laplace equation solutions. The “gorge method”, commonly used for calculating the capillary force, was also validated by our experiments. Liquid bridge rupture was studied and a new rupture criterion is proposed. This criterion depends on the grain radius, contact angle, surface tension and suction and was in agreement with the experimental results.     

DISPLACEMENT OF PARTICLES DEPOSITED ON SOLID SURFACES BY A MOVING GAS-LIQUID-SOLID INTERFACE

ABSTRACT

Deposited small particles change their position and can build aggregates on surfaces when wetted/dewetted. The size and form of these aggregates depend on the amount of water condensed, the form of the particles and the contact angles. Experiments with glass spheres and quartz particles on three different surfaces with water as wetting liquid were carried out. Results of the wetting/dewetting experiments are shown and discussed. A model is presented to estimate the magnitude of involved forces and the displacement of the particles taking into account contact angles, amount of condensed water, and size of particles. The model explains, why particles, as observed, tend to gather near the edge of a droplet at small surface contact angles and near the droplet center at high surface contact angles.     

Jumplike variation of the contact area between randomly rough surfaces

A numerical model of the contact between two solid surfaces with statistically random roughness has been considered. As the two surfaces are brought in contact and pressed against each other, the real contact area initially increases in proportion to the normal force, with a proportionality factor dependent on the spectral density of the surface profile. As the pressing force grows further, the contact area exhibits two sequential jumps. This behavior is universal, being manifested for various spectral densities of the surface roughness in both two-and three-dimensional cases. The physical reasons for the observed features and their role in the mechanics of contact between soft materials (rubber, biological tissues) are discussed. The effect can be used for creating new adhesive systems capable of exhibiting strong adhesion upon application of a critical pressing force.     

Evaporation-induced evolution of the capillary force between two grains

The evolution of capillary forces during evaporation and the corresponding changes in the geometrical characteristics of liquid (water) bridges between two glass spheres with constant separation are examined experimentally. For comparison, the liquid bridges were also tested for mechanical extension (at constant volume). The obtained results reveal substantial differences between the evolution of capillary force due to evaporation and the evolution due to extension of the liquid bridges. During both evaporation and extension, the change of interparticle capillary forces consists in a force decrease to zero either gradually or via rupture of the bridge. At small separations between the grains (short & wide bridges) during evaporation and at large volumes during extension, there is a slight initial increase of force. During evaporation, the capillary force decreases slowly at the beginning of the process and quickly at the end of the process; during extension, the capillary force decreases quickly at the beginning and slowly at the end of the process. Rupture during evaporation of the bridges occurs most abruptly for bridges with wider separations (tall and thin), sometimes occurring after only 25 % of the water volume was evaporated. The evolution (pinning/depinning) of two geometrical characteristics of the bridge, the diameter of the three-phase contact line and the “apparent” contact angle at the solid/liquid/gas interface, seem to control the capillary force evolution. The findings are of relevance to the mechanics of unsaturated granular media in the final phase of drying.     

Sliding-induced adhesion of stiff polymer microfibre arrays. II. Microscale behaviour.

The adhesive pads of geckos provide control of normal adhesive force by controlling the applied shear force. This frictional adhesion effect is one of the key principles used for rapid detachment in animals running up vertical surfaces. We developed polypropylene microfibre arrays composed of vertical, 0.3 microm radius fibres with elastic modulus of 1 GPa which show this effect for the first time using a stiff polymer. In the absence of shear forces, these fibres show minimal normal adhesion. However, sliding parallel to the substrate with a spherical probe produces a frictional adhesion effect which is not seen in the flat control. A cantilever model for the fibres and the spherical probe indicates a strong dependence on the initial fibre angle. A novel feature of the microfibre arrays is that adhesion improves with use. Repeated shearing of fibres temporarily increases maximum shear and pull-off forces.     

Solid-solid contacts due to surface roughness and their effects on suspension behaviour

Solid-solid contacts due to microscopic surface roughness in viscous fluids were examined by observing the translational and rotational behaviours of a suspended sphere falling past a lighter sphere or down an inclined surface. In both cases, a roll-slip behaviour was observed, with the gravitational forces balanced by not only hydrodynamic forces but also normal and tangential solid-solid contact forces. Moreover, the nominal separation between the surfaces due to microscopic surface roughness elements is not constant but instead varies due to multiple roughness scales. By inverting the system, so that the heavy sphere fell away from the lighter sphere or the plane, it was found that the average nominal separation increases with increasing angle of inclination of the plane or the surface of the lighter sphere from horizontal; the larger asperities lift the sphere up from the opposing surface and then gravity at large angles of inclination is too weak to pull the sphere back down to the opposing surface before another large asperity is encountered. The existence of microscopic surface roughness and solid-solid contacts is shown to modify the rheological properties of suspensions. For example, the presence of compressive, but not tensile, contact forces removes the reversibility of sphere-sphere interactions and breaks the symmetry of the particle trajectories. As a result, suspensions of rough spheres exhibit normal stress differences that are absent for smooth spheres. For the conditions studied, surface roughness reduces the effective viscosity of a suspension by limiting the lubrication resistance during near-contact motion, and it also modifies the suspension microstructure and hydrodynamic diffusivity.     

Functional Adhesive Surfaces with “Gecko” Effect: The Concept of Contact Splitting

Nature has developed reversibly adhesive surfaces whose stickiness has attracted much research attention over the last decade. The central lesson from nature is that “patterned” or “fibrillar” surfaces can produce higher adhesion forces to flat and rough substrates than smooth surfaces. This paper critically examines the principles behind fibrillar adhesion from a contact mechanics perspective, where much progress has been made in recent years. The benefits derived from “contact splitting” into fibrils are separated into extrinsic/intrinsic contributions from fibril deformation, adaptability to rough surfaces, size effects due to surface‐to‐volume ratio, uniformity of stress distribution, and defect‐controlled adhesion. Another section covers essential considerations for reliable and reproducible adhesion testing, where better standardization is still required. It is argued that, in view of the large number of parameters, a thorough understanding of adhesion effects is required to enable the fabrication of reliable adhesive surfaces based on biological examples.     

Liquid-Superrepellent Bioinspired Fibrillar Adhesives

Bioinspired elastomeric fibrillar surfaces have significant potential as reversible dry adhesives, but their adhesion performance is sensitive to the presence of liquids at the contact interface. Like their models in nature, many artificial mimics can effectively repel water, but fail when low-surface-tension liquids are introduced at the contact interface. A bioinspired fibrillar adhesive surface that is liquid-superrepellent even toward ultralow-surface-tension liquids while retaining its adhesive properties is proposed herein. This surface combines the effective adhesion principle of mushroom-shaped fibrillar arrays with liquid repellency based on double re-entrant fibril tip geometry. The adhesion performance of the proposed microfibril structures is retained even when low-surface-tension liquids are added to the contact interface. The extreme liquid repellency enables real-world applications of fibrillar adhesives for surfaces covered with water, oil, and other liquids. Moreover, fully elastomeric liquid-superrepellent surfaces are mechanically not brittle, highly robust against physical contact, and highly deformable and stretchable, which can increase the real-world uses of such antiwetting surfaces.     

狭长平行板间液桥形态及受力研究

在狭长光滑平行板间形成的体积恒定的液桥,随着两板间距的变化,液固界面宽度受平板长度方向的边界约束保持不变,但液桥会沿着平板长度方向自由地伸长缩短,这必将引起液桥形态参数的变化,进而使液桥的受力发生变化。该文考虑细长液桥轮廓的边缘效应,建立液桥的拟三维受力模型。在液桥体积恒定的条件约束下,根据其细长形态特征利用高效的方法求解液桥形态微分方程。最后,该文研究平行板间距变化引起的接触角、长度、宽度等液桥形态参数的变化与液桥受力变化之间的联系,并将计算结果与Surface Evolver的仿真结果进行对比,证明该文所述方法的正确性和实用性。