Molecular dynamics of a liquid drop spreading in a corner formed by two planar substrates

Molecular-dynamics simulations were used to investigate the spreading of nonvolatile liquid drops in a solid corner formed by two planar substrates. To understand the effect of the corner on the spreading, liquid drops in a corner with angles of 45°, 90°, and 135° as well as on a flat substrate were examined. Both the solid substrate and the liquid drop were modeled using the Lennard-Jones interaction potential in the present study. Simulation results show that the mass center of the liquid molecules migrated towards the corner as time evolved and the spreading rate increased as the corner angle decreased. It is found that the variation of the mean spreading area with time can be described by a general relation of A(t)∼t, which is in agreement with results obtained by other investigators. The distribution of liquid atoms per unit normalized corner degree shows a similar trend for different corner angles.