Effective Dewetting in a Microporous Particle

Abstract

In this paper, the kinetics of the outflow in a microporous particle infiltrated by a nonwetting liquid is analyzed in context of effective phase transformation. The “dewetting” process is considered as the nucleation, growth, and coalescence of empty pore clusters (EPCs) that starts from the interior and eventually involves the whole particle. Initially, the EPC nucleation is dominant while the influence of EPC coalescence becomes increasingly important as the EPC volume fraction increases. The dependence of the dewetting time on the pore size distribution is discussed in detail.