Abstract
Recent ideas about the analogue for a three-phase contact line of the Gibbs adsorption equation for interfaces are illustrated in a mean-field density-functional model. With d τ the infinitesimal change in the line tension τ that accompanies the infinitesimal changes dμ
i
in the thermodynamic field variables μ
i
and with Λ
i
the line adsorptions, the sum , unlike its surface analogue, is not 0. An equivalent of this sum in the model system is evaluated numerically and analytically. A general line adsorption equation, which the model results illustrate, is derived.
Acknowledgement
KK acknowledges support by MEXT, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Reserch. BW acknowledges support by the US National Science Foundation and the Cornell Center for Materials Research.