intermediate-range and asymptotic density profile r(z) of A simple phenomenological model is proposed of wetting a subliquids near interfaces (liquid-vapor and liquid-wall) perstrate possessing a van der Waals long-range attraction by a liquid pendicular to z-axis will be the same as those of the radial film which has the damped oscillatory surface density profile. At distribution functions g(r) of the bulk liquid (12-16), the liquid-vapor coexistence along the coexistence line, we predict which is related to the liquid structure factor S(q) measured successive transitions from incomplete wetting to no wetting, then by the scattering experiments (12).
to the complete wetting, as well as the usual wetting transition
For liquids with short-range potentials, this decay is charfrom incomplete wetting to complete wetting. However, at underacterized by a damped oscillation at low temperatures near saturated pressures when the structure of the liquid becomes imthe triple point. At higher temperatures near the critical point, portant, we predict not only the prewetting but also the layering transition. Simple criteria of those transitions using macroscopic this decay is characterized by a simple exponential decay. and structural quantities are presented. The termination of the The boundary on which the decay shifts from a damped layering transition is explained by the capillary fluctuation. แญง 1998 oscillatory mode to an exponential mode is called the
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Fisher-Widom (FW) line ( 17). The oscillatory side is Key Words: wetting; prewetting; layering; capillary fluctuation; ''above the Fisher-Widom line'' in the r (density) -T (temstructure factor. perature) plane ( 14), though this line is not thermodynamically singular. The point where this line crosses the coexistence line is called the Fisher-Widom point. lated thermodynamic function with traditional bulk correla-177