Layering transition: dynamical instabilities during squeeze-out

A lubrication fluid confined between two approaching surfaces form, in the limit of thin interfaces, well-defined layers of molecular thickness, whose number decreases in discontinuous steps with increasing applied pressure. It will be shown that, for two-dimensional (2D) liquid-like layers, the squ eeze-out exhibit instabilities which may result in trapped islands of lubri cation molecules, as observed in recent experiments. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.