Wetting under chemical equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions

Abstract

The thermodynamics of a solid-liquid-vapor system both under chemical equilibrium and nonequilibrium conditions, based on the model of Gibbs, is discussed. Under chemical equilibrium conditions, the degree of wetting or nonwetting of a flat and nondeformable solid by the liquid is defined by Young's equation in terms of the static interfacial tensions. Under chemical nonequilibrium conditions, mass transfer across an interface results in a transient decrease in the corresponding specific interfacial free energy and the interfacial tension by an amount equal to the free energy of the effective chemical reaction per area at that interface. When the reaction is between the solid and the liquid, this transient lowering of the interfacial tension can cause the liquid drop to spread on the solid substrate if the interfacial energy reduction is large enough and also if the diffusion rates of the reacting components in the solid phase are slow enough relative to the flow rate of the liquid to cause the liquid at the periphery of the drop to be in dynamic contact with unreacted solid.