title: Kinetics of spinodal phase separation in unstable thin liquid films.
abstract: We study universality in the kinetics of spinodal phase separation in unstable thin liquid films, via simulations of the thin film equation. It is shown that, in addition to morphology and free energy, the number density of local maxima in the film profile can also be used to identify the early, late, and intermediate stages of spinodal phase separation. A universal curve between the number density of local maxima and rescaled time describes the kinetics of the early stage in d=2 and 3. The Lifshitz-Slyozov exponent of -1/3 describes the kinetics of the late stage in d=2 even in the absence of coexisting equilibrium phases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India. rajesh@chemical.iitd.ac.in
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khanna
authors.forename: Narendra Kumar
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Agnihotri
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vashishtha
authors.forename: Ashutosh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Prabhat K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Jaiswal
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puri
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D007700:Kinetics; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D044367:Phase Transition; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012996:Solutions