Index Experiments Theory Simulation Drops Conclusions
Analyzing the morphology of a typical critical binary liquid mixture as it phase separates, we observe the appearance of bicontinuous structures (see pictures on the left). The mean size L (in micron) of these microdomains grows linearly in time, with a growth rate of about 80 µm/s and 200 µm/s, depending on whether the morphology of the system is composed of isolated drops or interconnected domains, respectively. This clearly indicates that convection, and not diffusion, is the mechanism driving phase separation.
Similar results are obtained studying the phase separation of off-critical
liquid mixtures, although in this case we observe the formation of isolated
drops instead of interconnected domains. Following the motion of individual
droplets (see picture on the right), we see that they move very rapidly, with
speeds exceeding 200 micron per seconds, confirming that convection is the
dominant transport mechanism.
