We present a review, largely based on recent experimental work of our group, on phase transitions at interfaces of fluid metals, alloys and ionic liquids. After a brief analysis of possible experimental errors and limitations of surface sensitive methods, we first deal with first-order wetting transitions at the liquid/vapour and liquid/wall interface in systems such as Ga-based alloys, K-KCl m...

Background The volatility of a compound is its ability to change into a vapor, or to evaporate at a particular temperature and pressure. The normal boiling point of a liquid usually allows comparison of its volatility to other materials, with lower boiling points indicating greater volatility, but this may be affected somewhat by the presence of other materials. Comparison of the concentration ...

The use of the two-phase closed thermosyphons (TPCTs) is increasing for many heat transfer applications. In this study, the development of a numerical model is presented with the purpose of determining the transient characteristics of a TPCT. The model includes the heat transfer through the wall, vapour core, liquid pool and the falling condensate film. The complete two-dimensional conservation...

A mathematical model for the quasi-steady diffusion-limited evaporation of a thin axisymmetric sessile droplet of liquid with a pinned contact line is formulated and solved. The model generalises the theoretical model proposed by Deegan et al. [Phys. Rev. E, 62 (2000) 756–765] to include the effect of evaporative cooling on the saturation concentration of vapour at the free surface of the dropl...

The existence of molecular layers at liquid/vapour interfaces has been a long debated issue. More than ten years ago it was shown, using computer simulations, that correlations at the liquid/vapour interface resemble those of bulk liquids, even though they can be detected in experiments only in a few cases, where they are so strong that they cannot be concealed by the geometrical smearing of ca...

In the present study, simulation of a divided wall column (DWC) was carried out to study the product quality and energy efficiency as a function of reflux rate, liquid spilt and vapour split for the separation of C4-C6 normal paraffin ternary mixture. Rigorous simulation of the DWC was carried out using Multifrac model of Aspen Plus software. Box–Behnken design (BBD) was used for the optimizati...