Spontaneous phase separation of ternary fluid mixtures

Shek, Alvin C.M.; Kusumaatmaja, Halim

doi:10.1039/d2sm00413e

Spontaneous phase separation of ternary fluid mixtures

Shek, Alvin C.M.; Kusumaatmaja, Halim

Authors

Alvin C.M. Shek

Professor Halim Kusumaatmaja halim.kusumaatmaja@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

We computationally study the spontaneous phase separation of ternary fluid mixtures using the lattice Boltzmann method both when all the surface tensions are equal and when they have different values. To rationalise the phase diagram of possible phase separation mechanisms, previous theoretical works typically rely on analysing the sign of the eigenvalues resulting from a simple linear stability analysis, but we find this does not explain the observed simulation results. Here, we classify the possible separation pathways into four basic mechanisms, and develop a phenomenological model that captures the composition regimes where each mechanism is prevalent. We further highlight that the dominant mechanism in ternary phase separation involves enrichment and instability of the minor component at the fluid-fluid interface, which is absent in the case of binary fluid mixtures.

Citation

Shek, A. C., & Kusumaatmaja, H. (2022). Spontaneous phase separation of ternary fluid mixtures. Soft Matter, 18(31), 5807-5814. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2sm00413e

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 18, 2022
Online Publication Date	Jul 20, 2022
Publication Date	Aug 21, 2022
Deposit Date	Aug 18, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Aug 18, 2022
Journal	Soft Matter
Print ISSN	1744-683X
Electronic ISSN	1744-6848
Publisher	Royal Society of Chemistry
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	18
Issue	31
Pages	5807-5814
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1039/d2sm00413e