Capillary Condensation in a Fractal Porous Medium
Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: Small-angle x-ray and neutron scattering are used to characterize the surface roughness and porosity of a natural rock which are described over three decades in length scales and over nine decades in scattered intensities by a surface fractal dimension D = 2.68+/-0.03. When this porous medium is exposed to a vapor of a contrast-matched water, neutron scattering reveals that surface roughness disappears at small scales, where a Porod behavior typical of smooth interfaces is observed instead. Water-sorption measurements confirm that such interface smoothing is due predominantly to the water condensing in the most strongly curved asperities rather than covering the surface with a wetting film of uniform thickness.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Institution: IFP Énergies nouvelles
Language: English
Subfield: Fuel Technology
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1995466947