Capillary condensation of vapours between two solid surfaces: effects of line tension and surface forces

Abstract

The problem of capillary condensation of vapour between two solid surfaces has been considered. The effects on condensation arising from both the line tension at the solid/liquid/vapour contact line and the surface forces between the solid bodies have been taken into account. The stability of the liquid bridges in different geometries of the solid surfaces has been analysed in relation to relative vapour pressure, distance between the solid bodies and their surface chemistry. The main objective has been to investigate how the existence of line tension influences the liquid capillary bridge formation and to illustrate possible ways for the estimation of line tension from the observation of capillary condensation in beds of monodisperse spherical particles and in the surface force apparatus (SFA).