Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex Fluids

Interfacial tension between immiscible phases is a well-known phenomenon, which manifests itself in everyday life, from the shape of droplets and foam bubbles to the capillary rise of sap in plants or the locomotion of insects on a water surface. More than a century ago, Korteweg generalized this no...

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Main Authors: Domenico Truzzolillo, Serge Mora, Christelle Dupas, Luca Cipelletti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2016-12-01
Series:Physical Review X
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041057
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author Domenico Truzzolillo
Serge Mora
Christelle Dupas
Luca Cipelletti
author_facet Domenico Truzzolillo
Serge Mora
Christelle Dupas
Luca Cipelletti
author_sort Domenico Truzzolillo
collection DOAJ
description Interfacial tension between immiscible phases is a well-known phenomenon, which manifests itself in everyday life, from the shape of droplets and foam bubbles to the capillary rise of sap in plants or the locomotion of insects on a water surface. More than a century ago, Korteweg generalized this notion by arguing that stresses at the interface between two miscible fluids act transiently as an effective, nonequilibrium interfacial tension, before homogenization is eventually reached. In spite of its relevance in fields as diverse as geosciences, polymer physics, multiphase flows, and fluid removal, experiments and theoretical works on the interfacial tension of miscible systems are still scarce, and mostly restricted to molecular fluids. This leaves crucial questions unanswered, concerning the very existence of the effective interfacial tension, its stabilizing or destabilizing character, and its dependence on the fluid’s composition and concentration gradients. We present an extensive set of measurements on miscible complex fluids that demonstrate the existence and the stabilizing character of the effective interfacial tension, unveil new regimes beyond Korteweg’s predictions, and quantify its dependence on the nature of the fluids and the composition gradient at the interface. We introduce a simple yet general model that rationalizes nonequilibrium interfacial stresses to arbitrary mixtures, beyond Korteweg’s small gradient regime, and show that the model captures remarkably well both our new measurements and literature data on molecular and polymer fluids. Finally, we briefly discuss the relevance of our model to a variety of interface-driven problems, from phase separation to fracture, which are not adequately captured by current approaches based on the assumption of small gradients.
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spelling doaj.art-af7763adc59145a9933ae20b515ea13f2022-12-21T21:25:51ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review X2160-33082016-12-016404105710.1103/PhysRevX.6.041057Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex FluidsDomenico TruzzolilloSerge MoraChristelle DupasLuca CipellettiInterfacial tension between immiscible phases is a well-known phenomenon, which manifests itself in everyday life, from the shape of droplets and foam bubbles to the capillary rise of sap in plants or the locomotion of insects on a water surface. More than a century ago, Korteweg generalized this notion by arguing that stresses at the interface between two miscible fluids act transiently as an effective, nonequilibrium interfacial tension, before homogenization is eventually reached. In spite of its relevance in fields as diverse as geosciences, polymer physics, multiphase flows, and fluid removal, experiments and theoretical works on the interfacial tension of miscible systems are still scarce, and mostly restricted to molecular fluids. This leaves crucial questions unanswered, concerning the very existence of the effective interfacial tension, its stabilizing or destabilizing character, and its dependence on the fluid’s composition and concentration gradients. We present an extensive set of measurements on miscible complex fluids that demonstrate the existence and the stabilizing character of the effective interfacial tension, unveil new regimes beyond Korteweg’s predictions, and quantify its dependence on the nature of the fluids and the composition gradient at the interface. We introduce a simple yet general model that rationalizes nonequilibrium interfacial stresses to arbitrary mixtures, beyond Korteweg’s small gradient regime, and show that the model captures remarkably well both our new measurements and literature data on molecular and polymer fluids. Finally, we briefly discuss the relevance of our model to a variety of interface-driven problems, from phase separation to fracture, which are not adequately captured by current approaches based on the assumption of small gradients.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041057
spellingShingle Domenico Truzzolillo
Serge Mora
Christelle Dupas
Luca Cipelletti
Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex Fluids
Physical Review X
title Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex Fluids
title_full Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex Fluids
title_fullStr Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex Fluids
title_full_unstemmed Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex Fluids
title_short Nonequilibrium Interfacial Tension in Simple and Complex Fluids
title_sort nonequilibrium interfacial tension in simple and complex fluids
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.6.041057
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AT lucacipelletti nonequilibriuminterfacialtensioninsimpleandcomplexfluids