Capillary condensation of vapours between two solid surfaces: effects of line tension and surface forces

The problem of capillary condensation of vapour between two solid surfaces has been considered. The effects on condensation arising from both the line tension at the solid/liquid/vapour contact line and the surface forces bet ween the solid bodies have been taken into account. The stability of the li quid bridges in different geometries of the solid surfaces has been analyse d in relation to relative vapour pressure, distance between the solid bodie s and their surface chemistry. The main objective has been to investigate h ow the existence of line tension influences the liquid capillary bridge for mation and to illustrate possible ways for the estimation of line tension f rom the observation of capillary condensation in beds of monodisperse spher ical particles and in the surface force apparatus (SFA).