# Interfacial Dynamics in the Presence of Additives

4 November 2010
16:00
to
17:30
Abstract
The presence of additives, which may or may not be surface-active, can have a dramatic influence on interfacial flows. The presence of surfactants alters the interfacial tension and drives Marangoni flow that leads to fingering instabilities in drops spreading on ultra-thin films. Surfactants also play a major role in coating flows, foam drainage, jet breakup and may be responsible for the so-called super-spreading" of drops on hydrophobic substrates. The addition of surface-inactive nano-particles to thin films and drops also influences the interfacial dynamics and has recently been shown to accelerate spreading and to modify the boiling characteristics of nanofluids. These findings have been attributed to the structural component of the disjoining pressure resulting from the ordered layering of nanoparticles in the region near the contact line. In this talk, we present a collection of results which demonstrate that the above-mentioned effects of surfactants and nano-particles can be captured using long-wave models.
• Differential Equations and Applications Seminar