The Morphology and Dynamics of Substrate Effects on Spinodal Decomposition in Binary Mixtures with Short-Range Potential

Abstract

Summary: The SDSD of binary mixture with short-range potential is numerically simulated in 3D by cell dynamic system (CDSs), focusing on the phase morphology and dynamics in the parallel cross-sections. The formation mechanism and growth law of the wetting layer are analyzed taking thermal noise effects into account. The simulated results show that the phase inversion in the parallel cross-sections can be observed near the substrate interface. Without thermal noise, the growth law of the wetting layer is simply logarithmic. However, when the strength of thermal noise is large enough, the LS growth law can be found for a short-range surface field. The results demonstrate that thermal noise can increase the extent of phase separation and lead to a transformation between partial and complete wetting for the substrate interface. The evolution of the phase in the parallel cross-sections obeys the LS growth law and is self-similar regardless of the effects of thermal noise.