Domain complexions in capillary condensation. Part 2.—Descending boundary curve and scanning

Abstract

The study of capillary condensation and evaporation in all possible types of porous structures leads to the following conclusions: blocking phenomena of the ‘network’ kind occurring in evaporation present several forms according to the degree of overlap between the site and bond size distributions. These phenomena are as follows: (i) intense, with a definite percolation threshold, for random structures pertaining to zero overlap; (ii) moderate, in the case of entities topologically correlated in size as the degree of overlap is medium; (iii) non-existent, for homotactic domains related to full overlap. Cooperative transitions during condensation are even more sensitive to porous morphology since for each type of structure there is a different set of equations to describe them. Each of these types also has its characteristic shape of boundary loop, and even particular forms of scanning curves. Starting from experimental data for a given solid, this property could permit one in principle to decide, according to the shape of its boundary and scanning curves, to which type of structure this solid belongs, and then to select the appropriate set of equations allowing the correct exploitation of these data.