Wetting between Cassie–Baxter and Wenzel regimes: a cellular model approach

Abstract

Abstract The cellular model with periodic boundary conditions was proposed for the study of liquid–solid interface properties of solid surfaces decorated by a regular pattern. The solid surface was represented by a mosaic of truncated pyramids of two different slopes of side walls equivalent to a surface covered with triangular grooves of different dihedral angles. On the basis of the computations performed for a single elementary cell, the components of the interfacial energies and the apparent contact angles have been found for different Young contact angles and different tilting angles of the pyramid walls. It was found that at certain sets of angles, the wetting takes place with the partial coverage of the pyramid sidewalls—in between the Cassie–Baxter and Wenzel regimes. The influence of the line tension on the studied surface wettability was also examined. Graphic abstract