Interfacial Phenomena and the Marangoni Effect

Marangoni (1878) provided a wealth of detailed information on the effects of variations of the potential energy of liquid surfaces and, in particular, flow arising from variations in temperature and surfactant composition. One aspect of this science is seen today to bear on important phenomena associated with the processing of modern materials. The role of the basic effect in technology was probably first demonstrated by chemical engineers in the field of liquid-liquid extraction. Indeed, phenomena attributable to Marangoni flows have been reported in innumerable instances relevant to modern technologies, such as in hot salt corrosion in aeroturbine blades; the drying of solvent-containing paints; the drying of silicon wafers used in electronics; in materials processing, particularly in metallic systems which have been suspected to demonstrate Marangoni flows.