Issue 32, 2021

Impact of a microfluidic jet on a pendant droplet

Abstract

High speed microfluidic jets can be generated by a thermocavitation process: from the evaporation of the liquid inside a microfluidic channel, a rapidly expanding bubble is formed and generates a jet through a flow focusing effect. Here, we study the impact and traversing of such jets on a pendant liquid droplet. Upon impact, an expanding cavity is created, and, above a critical impact velocity, the jet traverses the entire droplet. We predict the critical traversing velocity (i) from a simple energy balance and (ii) by comparing the Young–Laplace and dynamic pressures in the cavity that is created during the impact. We contrast the model predictions against experiments, in which we vary the liquid properties of the pendant droplet and find good agreement. In addition, we assess how surfactants and viscoelastic effects influence the critical impact velocity. Our results increase the knowledge of the jet interaction with materials of well-known physical properties.

Graphical abstract: Impact of a microfluidic jet on a pendant droplet

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 May 2021
Accepted
25 Jun 2021
First published
28 Jun 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2021,17, 7466-7475

Impact of a microfluidic jet on a pendant droplet

M. A. Quetzeri-Santiago, I. W. Hunter, D. van der Meer and D. Fernandez Rivas, Soft Matter, 2021, 17, 7466 DOI: 10.1039/D1SM00706H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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