Liquid imbibition in soft fibrous porous media: textiles, fiber reinforced polymers and wood

Renewal of proposal submission for PSCM support otherwise identical: Time-resolved X-ray tomographic microscopy (XTM) has recently substantially advanced the understanding of two-phase flow in porous media. Especially spontaneous imbibition shows irregular dynamics not captured by macroscopic models. Two-phase flow in porous media is determined by pore scale processes directly influencing the macroscopic material behavior. Understanding the interplay of pore filling, elastocapillarity and hygroscopic swelling in a network of inter-fiber pores is not only it its infancy, but also relevant to the performance to functional textiles, building materials (wood) and fiber reinforced composites. Time-resolved XTM will allow to study pore scale physics in-situ in the context of macroscopic wetting dynamics.