Related papers: Influence of roughness on capillary forces between…
A numerical study of multi-phase granular materials based upon micro-mechanical modelling is proposed. Discrete element simulations are used to investigate capillary induced effects on the friction properties of a granular assembly in the…
Surface stresses have recently emerged as a key player in the mechanics of highly compliant solids. The classic theories of contact mechanics describe adhesion with a compliant substrate as a competition between surface energies driving…
Liquid adsorption in nanoporous materials induces their deformation due to strong capillary forces. The linear relationship between the liquid pressure and the solid strain (pore-load modulus) provides an experimental technique to determine…
Surface tension is a key parameter for understanding nucleation from the very initial stage of phase transformation. Although surface tension has been predicted to vary with the curvature of the liquid-vapor interface, particularly at the…
This work is an extended version of a paper published last year in Physical Review Letters [S. de Man et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 040402 (2009)], where we presented measurements of the Casimir force between a gold coated sphere and a…
This study presents a novel and user-friendly technique for detecting the lateral capillary force on a floating spherical particle. The technique leverages the interplay between the capillary attracting forces, hydrostatic pressure forces,…
The fragility, that controls the temperature-dependent viscous properties of liquids as the glass transition is approached, in various glass-forming liquids with different atomic interactions and densities is investigated by molecular…
In this study, capillary-driven flow of different pure liquids and diluted bitumen samples were studied using microfluidic channel (width of 30 um and depth of 9 um). Capillary filling kinetics of liquids as a function of time were…
The transition of van der Waals to Casimir forces between macroscopic gold surfaces is investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy in the plane-sphere geometry. It was found that the transition appears to take place at separations about 10 %…
We report on the thinning of supported liquid films driven by thermocapillarity. The liquids are oil films, of initial thicknesses of a few tens of microns. A local and moderate heating of the glass substrate on which they are spread on…
The contact of water with graphene is of fundamental importance and of great interest for numerous promising applications, but how graphene interacts with water remains unclear. Here we used atomic force microscopy to investigate…
The agglomeration of particles caused by the formation of capillary bridges has a decisive impact on the transport properties of a variety of at a first sight very different systems such as capillary suspensions, fluidized beds in chemical…
Capillary condensation of water is ubiquitous in nature and technology. It routinely occurs in granular and porous media, can strongly alter such properties as adhesion, lubrication, friction and corrosion, and is important in many…
We present a simple analytical model and an exact numerical study which explain the role of roughness on different length scales for the fluid contact angle on rough solid surfaces. We show that there is no simple relation between the…
Capillary effects such as imbibition-drying cycles impact the mechanics of granular systems over time. A multiscale poromechanics framework was applied to cement paste, that is the most common building material, experiencing broad humidity…
We observed strongly size-dependent viscoelasticity in amorphous SiO2 and Si nanotubes with shell thickness down to ~8 nm. A core-shell model shows that a ~1 nm thick fluid-like surface layer has a significant effect on the mechanical…
In this paper we calculate the Casimir-Polder force density (force per unit area acting on the elements of the surface) on a metallic plate placed in front of a neutral atom. To obtain the force density we use the quantum operator…
The electric density profile along the normal to the phase interface between aromatic hydrocarbon toluene and water has been studied by X-ray reflectometry using synchrotron radiation. According to the experimental data, the width of the…
We present results on the determination of the differential Casimir force between an Au-coated sapphire sphere and the top and bottom of Au-coated deep silicon trenches performed by means of the micromechanical torsional oscillator in the…
We have performed surface tension measurements on carbopol gels of different concentrations and yield stresses. Our setup, based on the force exerted by a capillary bridge on two parallel plates, allows to measure an effective surface…