Coalescence in emulsions and foams is far from being understood, despite of many years of investigations. The phenomenon is not easy to characterize because it is extremely rapid and coupled to several others, gravity effects, leading to vertical motion of drops/bubbles and ripening, leading to their growth. Coalescence implies the rupture of films between drops/bubbles and involves contributions from hydrodynamics, surface rheology, surface forces and thermal fluctuations. Different coalescence scenarios were identified and are described. There are close similarities between emulsions and foams behavior, as remarked early by several researchers. Ivan Ivanov, to whom this paper is dedicated, was one of them. He and his group pioneered parallel studies in both emulsions and foams, aiming to clarify coalescence mechanisms. As discussed in this review, such an approach proved very successful and deserves to be continued in the future.

尽管进行了许多年的研究，但乳液和泡沫中的聚结仍远未得到理解。这种现象不容易表征，因为它非常迅速，并且与其他几种重力效应相关，导致液滴/气泡的垂直运动和成熟，从而导致液滴的生长。聚结意味着液滴/气泡之间的膜破裂，并且涉及流体动力学，表面流变学，表面力和热涨落的影响。确定并描述了不同的合并方案。几位研究人员早些时候曾指出，乳液和泡沫的行为之间有着相似的相似之处。本文致力于的伊万·伊万诺夫就是其中之一。他和他的小组在乳液和泡沫方面开创了平行研究的先河，旨在阐明聚结机理。