Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2013
We consider Marangoni convection in a heated layer of a binary liquid. The solute is a surfactant, which is present in both surface and bulk phases; the bulk gradient of the concentration is formed due to the Soret effect. Linear stability analysis demonstrates a well-pronounced stabilization of the layer due to the adsorption kinetics and advection of the surface phase. We derive nonlinear amplitude equations for longwave perturbations in the case of fast sorption kinetics (small Langmuir number) and demonstrate that with increase in the effect of the adsorption, subcritical excitation occurs. In the case of a finite Langmuir number, the weakly nonlinear problem is ill-posed. A physical mechanism of subcritical bifurcation is discussed.