| Numéro |
J. Phys. I France
Volume 4, Numéro 1, January 1994
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 77 - 85 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/jp1:1994121 | |
J. Phys. I France 4 (1994) 77-85
Line tension at wetting: finite-size effects and scaling functions
J. O. Indekeu and H. T. DobbsLaboratorium voor Vaste Stof-Fysika en Magnetisme, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
(Received 23 June 1993, accepted in final foret 8 October 1993)
Abstract
We study the effect of finite system size on the tension
of a
three-phase contact line. This is especially important in systems
with forces that are sufficiently long-ranged for
to diverge in
the thermodynamic limit. Near wetting phase transitions we propose
an anisotropic finite-size scaling hypothesis, which takes into
account the effect of thermal capillary-wave fluctuations. The
singular behaviour of
near a first-order wetting transition is
analyzed. Scaling functions are calculated explicitly in the
mean-field regime, which includes the physically most common
systems with van der Waals forces in dimension d = 3.
© Les Editions de Physique 1994