ABSTRACT
Abstract-Wetting and adhesion occur in the processing and use of fibrous materials when an interface is created between the fibrous substrate and a liquid or solid (e.g., coating or resin). Fibrous materials have a unique structure of complex geometry, with pores distributing from intra-fiber to inter-fiber spaces. But, physically speaking, wetting and adhesion are due to molecular interactions within a solid or liquid or across the interface between a liquid and a solid. Stochastic modeling and simulation methods (e.g. The Ising model combined with the Monte Carlo simulation) are, therefore, used in the studies of wetting and adhesion behaviors of fibrous materials, including liquid wetting/wicking in fibrous structures, single fiber pull-out process in a composite, and tearing behavior of coated fabrics. Complicated mechanisms of these behaviors can be realistically simulated with a relatively simple algorithm. Namely, the interaction across the interface (cohesion within a single substrate, adhesion between different meterials) can be represented by a Hamiltonian expression for the system, so that minimization of the system Hamiltonians will yield the most likely new steps for system evolvement, while the Monte Carlo method can be used to select the step that will actually occur, reflecting the stochastic agreement with the behavior of real systems. This approach is demonstrated to be useful in the studies of interfacial phenomena.
