Droplet impact: Viscosity and wettability effects on splashing.

HYPOTHESES: The wettability of a surface affects the splashing behavior of a droplet upon impact onto a surface only when surface exhibits either a very high or a very low contact angle. Viscosity affects the splashing threshold in a non-monotony way. EXPERIMENTS: To examine the roles of drop viscosity and surface wettability on splashing, a wide range of liquid viscosities (1-100 cSt), surface wettabilities (from hydrophilic to hydrophobic), drop velocities (0.5-3.3 m/s), and liquid surface tensions (∼20 and 70 mN/m) were examined. High speed imaging was used. FINDINGS: Wettability affects the splashing threshold at very extreme limits of the wettability i.e. at very high or very low contact angle values; however, the wettability effect is less prominent on spreading-splashing regime map. For drops of any surface tension impacting surfaces with any wettability, an increase in viscosity (up to ∼5 cSt or Reynolds number of 2000) promotes splashing; whereas using liquids with viscosities larger than 5 cSt, suppress splashing. We explained such behaviors using evolution of the lamella rim, dynamic contact angle, and velocity of the expanding lamella. Finally, to predict the splashing, we developed a general empirical relationship which explains all of ours, and previously reported data.

Asymmetric Spreading of a Drop upon Impact onto a Surface.

Study of the spreading of an impacting drop onto a surface has gained importance recently due to applications in printing, coating, and icing. Limited studies are conducted to understand asymmetric spreading of a drop seen upon drop impact onto a moving surface; there is no relation to describe such spreading. Here, we experimentally studied the spreading of a drop over a moving surface; such study also provides insights for systems where a drop impacts at an angle relative to a surface, i.e., drop has both normal and tangential velocities relative to the surface. We developed a model that for the first time allows prediction of time evolution for the asymmetric shape of the lamella during spreading. The developed model is demonstrated to be valid for a range of liquids and surface wettabilities as well as drop and surface velocities, making this study a comprehensive examination of the topic. We also found out how surface wettability can affect the recoil of the drop after spreading and explained the role of contact angle hysteresis and receding contact angle in delaying the recoil process.

Understanding the drop impact on moving hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces.

In this paper, a systematic study was performed to understand the drop impact on hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces that were moving in the horizontal direction. Drops (D0 = 2.5 mm) of liquids with three different viscosities were used. Wide ranges of drop normal velocity (0.5 to 3.4 m s-1) and surface velocity (0 to 17 m s-1) were studied. High speed imaging from the top and side was used to capture the impact phenomena. It was found that drop impact behavior on a moving surface significantly differs from that on a stationary surface at both the lamella extension stage (i.e. t ≤ tmax) and the retraction stage (t > tmax). Starting with the lamella extension stage, it was observed that the drop spreads asymmetrically over a moving surface. It was also found that the splashing behavior of the drop upon impact on a moving surface, unlike the understanding in the literature, is azimuthally different along the lamella contact line. In the case of the drop spreading over a moving surface, the surface movement stretches the expanded lamella in the direction of the surface motion. For hydrophilic surfaces, the stretched lamella pins to the surface and moves with the surface velocity; however, for hydrophobic surfaces, the lamella recoils during such stretching. A new model was developed to determine the splashing threshold of the drop impact on a moving surface. The model is capable of describing the azimuthally different behavior of the splashing which is a function of normal capillary and Weber numbers, surface velocity, and surface wettability. It was also found that the increase of the viscosity decreases the splashing threshold. Finally, comprehensive regime maps of the drop impact outcome on a moving surface were provided for both t ≤ tmax and t > tmax stages.