An analytical description is presented for the head-on collision of two spherical rigid particles that are coated with a thin layer of one liquid and immersed in another. Lubrication theory is used to resolve the spatio-temporal evolution of the coating surfaces, in conjunction with the fluid flow in the gap region between the particles. The analysis is carried out up to the point where the gap region has almost completely been drained; intermolecular forces are neglected. The effects of particle inertia, the ratio of particle radii, surface tension, and the viscosity ratio of the coating and carrier fluids are studied; these are parameterised by St, beta, Ca and rn, respectively. The results of the present work elucidate the effect of the above-mentioned factors on the conditions under which particles rebound (assumed to occur if the distance between the particles becomes very short while the relative velocity does not vanish) or stick. In particular, summarizing flowmaps show that the likelihood of particles rebounding increases with increasing St and decreasing P, Ca and m. On the other hand, it is shown that the force on approaching particles depends on all of these parameters in a non-monotonic manner. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.