Surface-Directed Spinodal Decomposition: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Abstract

We use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study surface-directed spinodal decomposition (SDSD) in unstable binary ($AB$) fluid mixtures at wetting surfaces. The thickness of the wetting layer $R_1$ grows with time $t$ as a power-law ($R_1\sim t^{\theta }$). We find that hydrodynamic effects result in a crossover of the growth exponent from $\theta \simeq 1/3$ to $\theta \simeq 1$. We also present results for the layer-wise correlation functions and domain length scales.

29 pages, 13 figures, submitted to PRE