Dynamics of liquid-liquid displacement.

Capillary driven liquid-liquid displacement in a system with two immiscible liquids of comparable viscosity was investigated by means of optical high speed video microscopy. For the first time, the impact of substrate wettability on contact line dynamics in liquid-liquid systems was studied. On all substrates, qualitatively different dynamics, in two distinct velocity regimes, were found. Hydrodynamic models apply to the fast stage of initial spreading, while nonhydrodynamic dissipation dominates contact line motion in a final stage at low speed, where the molecular kinetic theory (MKT) successfully captured the dynamics. The MKT model parameter values showed no systematic dependence on substrate wettability. This unexpected result is interpreted in terms of local contact line pinning.