Akhatov I., Gavrilyuk S.
North Dakota State University, US
Keywords: disjoining pressure, liquid nanofilm, Van Der Waals concept
Van der Waals attractive forces drastically change the material properties of thin layers several nanometers when in contact with a solid. At this scale, the fluid is no longer homogeneous. Moreover, it has properties which analogous to those of solids. In particular, in equilibrium the stress tensor is no longer spherical. For such fluids, we use a long-wave approximation to derive the evolution of a liquid nanofilm on a substrate. We establish that the driving pressure in nanofilm should be associated with the mean value of the component of the pressure tensor tangential to the liquid interface (along the substrate). Finally, we derive the equation for nanofilm dynamics by using mass conservation formulation. This is not a conventional, conservative equation for the position of the free surface normally used in the theory of thick films where the density is homogeneous, but rather a conservative equation for the liquid mass. The equation turns out to be a nonlinear parabolic equation with a diffusion coefficient of a “good” sign.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Technical Proceedings of the 2006 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 1
Published: May 7, 2006
Pages: 653 - 656
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topic: Informatics, Modeling & Simulation
ISBN: 0-9767985-6-5