Shape of an evaporating completely wetting extended meniscus

The microscopic details of fluid flow and heat transfer in the contact line region of an evaporating curved liquid film were experimentally and theoretically evaluated. The evaporating film thickness profiles were measured optically using null ellipsometry and image analyzing interferometry. These thickness profiles were analyzed using the augmented Young-Laplace equation to obtain the pressure field. Using the liquid pressure field, the evaporative mass flux profile was obtained from a Kelvin -Clapeyron model for the local vapor pressure. A correlation for the local slope (apparent contact angle) at a film thickness of 6 = 20 nm as a function of a dimensionless contact line heat sink was thereby obtained for a group of completely wetting fluids. This change in local slope leads to a decrease in the maximum value of the possible capillary suction at the base of the meniscus. A complementary macroscopic interfacial force balance was also used to describe the effects of viscous losses and interfacial forces on the local values of the apparent contact angle and curvature that are functions of the film thickness and heat flux. These two perspectives give a complete description of an evaporating, nonpolar, completely wetting curved film in the contact line region.