The entrainment of air by advancing contact lines is studied by plunging a solid plate into a very viscous liquid. Above a threshold velocity, we observe the formation of an extended air film, typically 10 microns thick, which subsequently decays into air bubbles. Exploring a large range of viscous liquids, we find an unexpectedly weak dependence of entrainment speed on liquid viscosity, pointi...

The ability to form tiny droplets of liquids and control their movements is important in printing or patterning, chemical reactions and biological assays. So far, such nanofluidic capabilities have principally used components such as channels, nozzles or tubes, where a solid encloses the transported liquid. Here, we show that liquids can flow along the outer surface of solid nanowires at a scal...

In this work, exploratory numerical simulations of liquid–gas flows in horizontal pipes are conducted for three different sets of conditions in the annular and stratified-annular flow regimes. Careful dimensional analysis is used to choose governing parameters in a way that yields flows that are relevant to realistic engineering applications, while remaining computationally tractable. Statistic...

Lubricated surfaces have recently been introduced and studied due to their potential benefit in various configurations and applications. Combining the techniques of total internal reflection microscopy and reflection interference microscopy, we examine the dynamics of an underlying air film upon drop impact on a lubricated substrate where the thin liquid film is immiscible to the drop. In contr...

The film thickness of free-meniscus coating of a polymeric fiber with a non-wetting fluid was investigated. A polypropylene monofilament fiber was coated with various glycerol/water mixtures. With a small capillary number (Ca), a detectable liquid film did not form on the fiber due to the non-wettability of the fiber-liquid system. Above a certain threshold velocity, liquid was forced to wet th...

We developed a new method for characterizing molecular distribution in very thin liquid crystal layer (5–40 nm) evaporated onto rubbed polyimide film used by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD). The diffraction peaks corresponding to intermolecular correlation perpendicular to longitudinal axis of liquid crystal molecule and the clear anisotropic distribution of liquid crystal molecules ...

Photo-induced molecular motion in a liquid crystal polymer film including azobenzene was studied by the heterodyne transient grating method. The film was confined in a liquid crystal cell, where it is a photomobile film under free-standing conditions. By observation of the refractive index change induced by a laser pulse, contraction of the film was observed on the order of several hundreds of ...

The viscosity of thin films of liquid poly(dimethylsiloxane) have been studied on silicon and fluoropolymer-coated silicon by means of a perturbation technique applied using colloid probe atomic force microscopy. The liquid film supported by a silicon substrate exhibited a greater viscosity than the bulk liquid, due to the strong interaction between the molecules near to the liquid/solid interf...

The mechanical properties of partially molten rock, such as their permeabilities and viscosities, are important properties in geological processes. We performed molecular dynamics simulations in terms of structures and diffusivities in forsterite-MgSiO3 liquid interfaces to obtain the nanoscale dynamic properties and structure of the interface. The characteristic structure of the forsterite-MgS...

The present paper addresses a liquid film sub-model included into a computational model that aims at reproducing the spray impingement phenomena. This numerical extension incorporates the spread of the liquid film over the neighbouring nodes due to the dynamic motion induced by the film inertia but also the exchange of mass between the liquid layer and the incident and splashing particles. More...