Langmuir, Vol.18, No.9, 3413-3414, 2002
On fluid/wall slippage
Certain (nonpolymeric) fluids show an anomalously low friction when flowing against well-chosen solid walls. We discuss here one possible explanation, postulating that a gaseous film of small thickness h is present between fluid and wall. When h is smaller than the mean free path l of the gas (Knudsen regime), the Navier length b is expected to be independent of h and very large (micrometers).