Capillary bridges and capillary forces between two axisymmetric power–law particles

Capillary interactions are fundamentally important in many scientific and industrial fields. However, most existing models of the capillary bridges and capillary forces between two solids with a mediated liquid, are based on extremely simple geometrical configurations, such as sphere–plate, sphere–sphere, and plate–plate. The capillary bridge and capillary force between two axisymmetric power–law profile particles with a mediated constant-volume liquid are investigated in this study. A dimensionless method is adopted to calculate the capillary bridge shape between two power–law profile particles based on the Young–Laplace equation. The critical rupture criterion of the liquid bridge is shown in four forms that produce consistent results. It was found that the dimensionless rupture distance changes little when the shape index is larger than 2. The results show that the power–law index has a significant influence on the capillary force between two power–law particles. This is directly attributed to the different shape profiles of power–law particles with different indices. Effects of various other parameters such as ratio of the particle equivalent radii, liquid contact angle, liquid volume, and interparticle distance on the capillary force between two power–law particles are also examined.