Wetting of polymer covered surfaces

A. Halperin , P.-G. de Gennes (1)

1 LPMC - Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée

We consider solid surfaces, partly covered with flexible, neutral, linear polymers (by adsorption or by grafting), wetted by a liquid which is a good solvent of the poymer. We give formulae for the spreading coefficient S as a function of chain length, solvent quality and adsorption strength. We also discuss the wetting films obtained in spreading a droplet of (non volatile) solvent : the equilibrium thickness e of the film is a compromise between S (favouring thin films) and the coil entropies (favouring thick films) : in most cases e is rather small. Finally we analyse the spreading on certain « patchy » coatings where the film thicknesses can change dramatically with time.

Mots clés: polymers; wetting

Domaines: Articles anciens

A. Halperin, P.-G. de Gennes. Wetting of polymer covered surfaces. Journal de Physique, 1986, 47 (7), pp.1243-1247. ⟨10.1051/jphys:019860047070124300⟩. ⟨jpa-00210313⟩