ISSN:
1089-7690
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
Wetting by a polymer fluid at an attractive surface is investigated using density functional theory. It is shown that the qualitative behavior of the wetting temperature, Tw, as a function of the polymer length, depends on the strength of the surface potential. Defining Tc as the bulk critical temperature, we find that the normalized wetting temperature, Tw/Tc, shows nonmonotonic dependence on polymer length. For weak surface potentials, Tw/Tc increases with polymer length and, in some cases, wetting seems to be suppressed. It is conjectured that this may occur via an encroaching drying transition. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1451053
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