Moving contact line problem: Advances and perspectives

Abstract

The solid-liquid interface, which is ubiquitous in nature and our daily life, plays fundamental roles in a variety of physical-chemical-biological-mechanical phenomena, for example in lubrication, crystal growth, and many biological reactions that govern the building of human body and the functioning of brain. A surge of interests in the moving contact line (MCL) problem, which is still going on today, can be traced back to 1970s primarily because of the existence of the “Huh-Scriven paradox”. This paper, mainly from a solid mechanics perspective, describes very briefly the multidisciplinary nature of the MCL problem, then summarizes some major advances in this exciting research area, and some future directions are presented.

Keywords

• solid-liquid interface
• moving contact line
• Huh-Scriven paradox
• molecular kinetic theory
• electrowetting
• electro-elasto-capillarity
• slip boundary conditions
• cell spreading
• Zhurkov-Bell model
• emergent phenomenon