Wetting characteristics of a water droplet on solid surfaces with various pillar surface fractions under different conditions

A numerical study was carried out using a molecular dynamics program to examine the wetting characteristics of nano-sized water droplets on surfaces with various pillar surface fractions under different conditions. Square-shaped pillars had surface fractions that increased from 11.1 % to 69.4 %. The pillars had 4 different heights and 3 different surface energies. When the pillar surface fraction changed, the contact angle of a water droplet also changed due to the attraction between the droplet and the pillar surface or the inner attraction of the water molecules. The pillar height also has different effects on the water droplet depending on the magnitude of surface energy.     

Dynamic hydrophobicity on flat and pillared graphite surfaces with different pillar surface fractions

The motion of a droplet on a surface is of importance to many fields. While many things are known at the macro-scale still a complete understanding of fluid flow at the nano-scale is far from being known. This study focuses on the dynamic hydrophobicity of a pillar surface with different pillar surface fractions at the nano-scale using molecular dynamics simulations. Five pillar heights and four pillar surface fractions were modeled using a graphite surface which has anisotropic characteristics due to its spaced layers. A nano-sized water droplet with 5124 molecules was run to equilibrium on each surface. Then a body force was applied and the dynamic contact angles were calculated for 5 ns. These contact angles were used to calculate the surface’s effective hydrophobicity. The droplets were categorized into one of three groups as different phenomena were identified depending on the pillar surface fraction, applied force, and pillar height. It was found that at the nano-scale smooth, flat surfaces are dynamically more hydrophobic than any of the cases with pillars. Larger pillar surface fractions tended to be more hydrophobic and the pillar surface fraction of 36% was least affected by pillar height and applied body force.     

沟槽与方柱阵列结构的微铣削和加工表面疏水性

采用理论分析与试验结合的方法研究沟槽与方柱阵列结构参数对水滴在其表面接触角的影响。基于适用于光滑表面的Young氏方程和适用于粗糙表面的Wenzel模型及Cassie-Baxter模型,建立沟槽结构和方柱阵列结构的Wenzel模型公式以及Cassie-Baxter模型公式,计算出水滴在其表面的接触角理论预报值。采用直径0.1 mm微铣刀加工出相应的沟槽结构和方柱阵列结构表面,测量水滴在加工表面上的接触角,并与理论预报值进行比较分析。研究结果表明,沟槽与方柱阵列结构可以使水滴在其表面的接触角增大,接触角随着微结构间距增加而增大,随着凸台(方柱)宽度增大而减小。沟槽结构与方柱阵列结构对接触角的影响规律不尽相同:沟槽结构表面上水滴在垂直于沟槽方向和平行于沟槽方向的接触角有差异并且相互影响;水滴在沟槽结构表面有着更稳定的接触角变化,而在方柱阵列结构表面有更大的接触角,并且更接近球状。     

Wetting behaviour during evaporation and condensation of water microdroplets on superhydrophobic patterned surfaces

Superhydrophobic surfaces have considerable technological potential for various applications due to their extreme water repellent properties. The superhydrophobic surfaces may be generated by the use of hydrophobic coating, roughness and air pockets between solid and liquid. The geometric effects and dynamic effects, such as surface waves, can destroy the composite solid–air–liquid interface. The relationship between the water droplet size and geometric parameters governs the creation of composite interface and affects transition from solid–liquid interface to composite interface. Therefore, it is necessary to study the effect of droplets of various sizes. We have studied the effect of droplet size on contact angle by evaporation using droplets with radii ranging from about 300 to 700 μm. Experimental and theoretical studies of the wetting properties of silicon surfaces patterned with pillars of two different diameters and heights with varying pitch values are presented. We propose a criterion where the transition from Cassie and Baxter regime to Wenzel regime occurs when the droop of the droplet sinking between two asperities is larger than the depth of the cavity. The trends are explained based on the experimental data and the proposed transition criteria. An environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) is used to form smaller droplets of about 20 μm radius and measure the contact angle on the patterned surfaces. The investigation has shown that ESEM provides a new approach to wetting studies on the microscale.     

润湿性梯度表面上液滴运动的数值模拟

建立液滴在具有润湿梯度表面上运动的物理和数学模型,用Fluent软件模拟出液滴在润湿梯度表面上的运动过程,并从能量变化的方法得到液滴在润湿梯度表面上运动的机制.计算结果表明润湿性梯度表面上的液滴具有不同的能量状态,当液滴的接触角较大时,液滴的表面能较大,此时液滴可以自发地向低接触角的方向运动,润湿性梯度的分布状况将决定液滴运动过程的速度和加速度的大小.     

Cooling of a heated surface with an impinging water spray

Several important parameters, such as liquid mass flux, droplet size distribution, droplet velocity, and heating target conditions (roughness and surface temperature) are involved in the industrial spray cooling heat transfer process. In this study, we investigated the effect of liquid mass flux, heating target roughness, and the droplet size on the droplet wall direct contact heat transfer in spray cooling phenomena. Three different conditions of surface roughness were investigated. The measurement of test surface temperature was performed using a non-intrusive method, i. e., using an infrared thermometer. The droplet size distribution of water spray was measured with Malvern 2600. The results indicated that the most influential parameters were the liquid mass flux and the surface roughness. The droplet size and the velocity played a less important role in the direct contact heat transfer because the interactions between droplets were very strong in a dense spray. The smooth surface showed the highest heat transfer among the surfaces tested. At high air pressure ([7] kPa), however, the degree of roughness did not affect much the heat transfer rate.     

Topographic contrast of partially wetting water droplets in environmental scanning electron microscopy

Partially wetting water droplets with sizes smaller than the capillary length acquire a distinct spherical cap shape controlled by the equilibrium contact angle, which is specific for different substrates and conditions. Images of such droplets in an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) show strong topographic contrast. This contrast across the droplets can be analysed within a simple theoretical model, as the droplet sides are inclined smooth surfaces. Very small droplets have ESEM intensity profiles which deviate from this topographic model. Such deviations indicate that other sources of electron signal may be important for such droplets, and also demonstrate the limits of the analytical model. For droplets sufficiently large that they lie within the range of the topographic contrast model, values of contact angles on different substrates can be deduced. These are found to agree with independent direct measurements, as well as the results given in the literature. The possibilities of using this technique to analyse physical properties of different substrates are discussed.     

Effects of Surface Roughness on Point Contact EHL

The effects of orientation of surface roughness, entrainment (rolling) velocity, and slide/roll ratio on micro-elastohydrodynamic lubrication (micro-EHL) are investigated under pointcontact conditions using the optical interferometry technique. Long bumps with constant height and wavelength produced artificially on the surface of a highly polished steel ball are used as a model roughness. It is shown that the asperities are elastically deformed and the magnitude depends on the film factor A, defined by the ratio of the central film thickness based on smooth surfaces to the composite surface roughness, as well as the surface kinematic conditions and the orientation of the asperities. It is also found that a thin or thick oil film formed at the inlet of the contact by a moving rough surface travels through the contact region at a speed very close to the average speed of the contacting surfaces. The possible mechanism is discussed.     

Numerical predictions of roughness effects on the performance degradation of an axial-turbine stage

This paper describes a numerical investigation on the performance deteriorations of a low speed, single-stage axial turbine due to use of rough blades. Numerical calculations have been carried out with a commercial CFD code, CFX-Tascflow, by using a modified wall function to implement rough surfaces on the stator vane and rotor blade. To assess the stage performance variations corresponding to 5 equivalent sand-grain roughness heights from a transitionally rough regime to a fully rough regime, stage work coefficient and total to static efficiency were chosen. Numerical results showed that both work coefficient and stage efficiency reduced as roughness height increased. Higher surface roughness induced higher blade loading both on the stator and rotor which in turn resulted in higher deviation angles and corresponding work coefficient reductions. Although, deviation angle changes were small, a simple sensitivity analysis suggested that their contributions on work coefficient reductions were substantial. Higher profile loss coefficients were predicted by higher roughness heights, especially on the suction surface of the stator and rotor. Furthermore sensitivity analysis similar to the above, suggested that additional profile loss generations due to roughness were accountable for efficiency reductions.     

Stress history in rolling–sliding contact of rough surfaces

An investigation into the non-Hertzian, elastic stress history, due to the contact of two rough surfaces is presented. A complex evolution of stress is produced whose magnitude and rate depend strongly upon the roughnesses and speeds of the contacting bodies. The key features of the stress fields are illustrated by plots of stress versus time and horizontal distance, for a range of depths and for various contact conditions. The stresses near the surface are many times higher than in an equivalent smooth contact and the roughness on thecounterface generates a moving stress field which, when sliding is present, greatly increases the number of cycles of stress during each passage of the contact. This may account, in part, for the observation that the rolling fatigue life of hard steels declines more rapidly with sliding speed for rough, than for smooth surfaces and suggests that counterface roughness is especially important in determining the fatigue life.     

微量供油条件下润滑油液滴的生长与脱附

润滑油液滴的生长与脱附性能对于微量供油过程和微量润滑效果有重要影响。采用试验和数值仿真相结合的方法,研究微量供油条件下、在重力环境中的润滑油液滴在毛细管出口端的生长与脱附行为,考察毛细管管径和表面润湿特性变化对润滑油液滴脱附性能的影响。结果表明,润滑油液滴的生长与脱附是毛细力、黏性力、表面张力和重力等共同作用的结果;减小毛细管管径或增大润滑油液滴在毛细管表面的接触角,均可有效减弱毛细效应,降低润滑油液的爬移高度和脱附粒径,改善液滴脱附性能;毛细管管径由1.2 mm减小至0.7 mm过程中,液滴脱附粒径减小了4.5%;接触角由5°逐渐增加至90°的过程中,液滴脱附粒径减小了9.3%;通过选用低表面能材料制作微量供油的毛细管可以显著增大接触角。     

Surface Roughness Effects on Metallic Contact and Friction

A study was made of surface roughness effects on metallic contact and friction in the transition zone between hydrodynamic and boundary lubrication. The system used was one of pure sliding and relatively high contact stress, namely a fixed steel ball riding on a rotating steel cylinder.

It was found that very smooth and very rough surfaces gave less metallic contact than surfaces of intermediate roughness; very smooth surfaces also gave less friction.

Four different types of antiwear/antifriction additives (including tricresyl phosphate) were studied and although they were found to reduce metallic contact and friction, they had little effect in reducing surface roughness. Rather, the additives merely slowed down the wearing-in process of the base oil. Thus, the “chemical polishing” mechanism advanced for the antiwear behavior of tricresyl phosphate appears to be incorrect.

With rough surfaces, the improvement in load-carrying capacity with increasing viscosity was less than that shown previously with smooth surfaces. Also, oils with a large pressure-viscosity coefficient did not show the expected beneficial effect with rougher surfaces.     

粗糙表面弹性微动接触数值研究

由于实际工程表面多为粗糙表面,这里研究了粗糙表面对微动接触中压力和切向应力的影响。研究接触过程中法向载荷保持不变,切向载荷为周期性的交变载荷。首先,建立接触算法和模型,其算法核心是利用共轭梯度法(CGM)计算微动接触中的表面压力及切向应力并使用快速傅里叶变换(FFT)加快计算速度。然后,在验证算法正确的基础上,分析正弦和非高斯粗糙表面接触的压力和切向应力的分布,通过对光滑与粗糙表面的研究对比,表明:(1)在正弦表面接触切向应力分布呈现尺寸效应;(2)在非高斯表面接触中,切向应力分布跟光滑表面形状类似;同时由于粗糙峰存在,粗糙表面下的切向应力比光滑表面下的要大,研究粗糙表面微动接触对实际工程具有重要意义。     

Temperature Analysis in Lubricated Simple Sliding Rough Contacts

A temperature analysis of dry sliding fully plastic contact is extended to calculate the asperity temperatures between a sliding lubricated rigid smooth plane and a stationary elastic rough surface. First, surface roughness is generated numerically to have a Gaussian height distribution and a bilinear autocorrelation function. Lai and Cheng's elastic rough contact computer program is then used to determine the asperity contact loads and geometries of real contact areas. Assuming different frictional coefficients for shearing the lubricant film at the noncontact areas, shearing the surface film at the asperity contacts and shearing the oxide film as the asperity temperature exceeds a critical temperature, asperity temperature distributions can be calculated. Eight cases in Durkee and Cheng's scuffing tests of lubricated simple sliding rough contacts are simulated by using 20 computer-generated rough surfaces. The results show that scuffing is correlated to high-temperature asperities which are above the material-softening temperature.     

Dynamics of contact line motion during the wetting of rough surfaces and correlation with topographical surface parameters

Dynamics of contact line motion and wettability is essential in many industrial applications such as liquid coating, lubrication, printing, painting, condensation, etc. However, the wettability of surfaces depends not only on liquid-solid chemical properties but also can be strongly affected by surface roughness. As a practical application of controlled wettability, we can mention the self-cleaning surfaces, protective clothing, microfluidics devices, electro wetting, etc. In this article, we experimentally investigate the spreading of droplets deposited onto rough surfaces. Anisotropic surfaces were prepared by abrasive polishing on the following materials: aluminium alloy AA7064, titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V, steel AISI 8630, copper alloy UNS C17000, machinable glass ceramic, and poly-methylmethacrylate. Topographical 2D parameters were calculated according to the following standards, defining Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS): ISO 4287, ISO 12085, ISO 13565, ISO 12780, and ISO 12181. The influence of topographical parameters on wettability and spreading phenomenon has been evaluated by statistical covariance analysis. The following parameters have strong influence on fluid spreading on rough surfaces: R(mr) is the relative material ratio of the roughness profile, T(rc) is the microgeometric material ratio, P(mr) is the relative material ratio of the raw profile, K(r) is the mean slope of the roughness motifs, RON(t) is the peak to valley roundness deviation, and P(sk) is the Skewness of the raw profile. The physical meaning of selected parameters is discussed, and K(r) (the mean slope of the roughness motifs) is selected as the most important and physically meaningful parameter. It has been found that for all tested materials, fluid spreading shows increasing tendency when mean slope of the roughness motifs (K(r) ) increases.     

Numerical Simulation on the Adhesive Contact Between Rough Surfaces with Bi-Conjugate Gradient Stabilized Method

A numerical model with bi-conjugate gradient stabilized method (Bi-CGSTAB) is proposed to simulate the adhesive contact between rough surfaces. This model provides a self-consistent solution of surface separation and contact pressure throughout rough surface with the adhesive interactions governed by the Lennard-Jones potential. This model uses the inexact Newton method and the preconditioned Bi-CGSTAB method for each Newton iteration. Both left and right preconditioners are employed. This model is proved to be accurate and feasible and is suitable for the moderate adhesive contact between rough surfaces.     

Random process model of rough surfaces in plastic contact

The plastic contact of a rough surface and a hard, smooth flat is analyzed by modeling the rough surface as an isotropic, Gaussian, random process. The applicability of this model to the contact of two rough surfaces is discussed, and it is shown that the model is appropriate.It is not necessary to analyze interactions of asperity pairs, with the attendant questions of their misalignment, the shape of their caps, etc. Instead, a model involving the interaction of the continuous surfaces is developed, which implicitly takes into account these geometrical factors, as well as allowing for the possibility of the coalescence of microcontacts as the normal pressure is increased.Approximate relations between the density of finite contact patches, their mean area and mean circumference, and the normal pressure/hardness ratio are derived. These relations depend not only on the density and height distribution of maxima, but also on the shape of the Power Spectral Density of the surface. Many surfaces of interest are likely to give rise to multiply-connected contact patches at all except very high separations. The density of holes appearing within the contact patches as well as their area is estimated.Results are derived for surfaces that may be partitioned into two components, one with a large r.m.s. value and a narrow roughness spectrum, and the other with a small r.m.s. value and an arbitrary spectrum. For these surfaces, the density of holes at small separations becomes equal to the density of finite contact patches; the area of the holes remains small, however. It is conjectured that for surfaces that may not be partitioned in this manner, conventional models of contact are inapplicable. Specifically, the contact patches are likely to be perforated by holes at all separations, the hole area being a significant fraction of the contact area. Unit events such as the contact or collision of asperities also appear to become meaningless     

Numerical analyses of the coupled-dynamic behavior of droplets on a vibrating membrane with a microsphere array at a three-phase interface

Analyses of the dynamic behavior of droplets are significant for a broad range of industrial applications. However, previous works have primarily studied the dynamic behavior on solid flat plates. Therefore, they could consider both the effect of geometric structure and energy simultaneously. In order to analyze the coupled-dynamic behavior of droplets, SMA membranes with microsphere arrays were used to apply the effects of both geometry and energy to droplet surfaces. The shape of the droplet changed harmonically with time during actuation. In the simulation, 50 and 200 Hz excitations related to the first and second droplet frequencies, respectively were used in order to investigate the coupled-behavior of the droplet. COMSOL Multiphasics™ was used to numerically analyze the dynamic behavior of droplets. The simulation results showed that the dynamic behavior of the water droplet was strongly affected by the natural frequency, and the interface and behavior were determined by both the mode shape and vibrating energy. As the actuation frequency increased, the energy equilibrium changed at the interface and occasionally broke. And then, the contact line on the actuated surface was changed to create new stable state.     

梯度辟水涂层表面上的流动分析

基于对荷叶表面辟水性能的仿生，首次提出了表面张力梯度的新型表面设计，并分析了液滴在这种梯度表面上的运动过程，得到了液滴运动速度与位移随时间的变化规律。研究结果表明：在表面张力各向同性表面的流动速度为零，而液滴在梯度表面上的运动速度在0．2s的时间内就可达到20m／s以上，液滴的运动特性与在各向同性表面显著不同；通过涂层材料设计可获得表面张力梯度涂层，这种涂层在防雨衣、鱼雷与汽车挡风玻璃等产品中有重要应用价值。     

超声纵扭辅助铣削高强铝合金表面润湿性能研究

针对超声辅助加工在工件表面形成微刻划表面可以提高高强铝合金表面的微结构性能的现象,进行了单激励旋转超声纵扭复合铣削表面微观结构的试验,基于水接触角理论和纵扭铣削运动学理论分析了加工参数对水接触角的影响;搭建了单激励超声纵扭铣削试验平台,采用正交试验法研究了不同加工参数对表面粗糙度、铣削力以及表面润湿性能的影响。结果表明：超声振幅为4 μm时表面质量最佳,切削速度和进给量与表面粗糙度和水接触角呈正相关的关系;超声加工方式下的表面水接触角较普通方式更大,而在超声加工时低振幅加工比高振幅加工的表面水接触角大,当转速达到一定值时,高振幅和低振幅所加工的表面水接触角差别不大。合适的加工参数条件下超声纵扭加工方式可以降低加工表面的粗糙度,改变表面的润湿性。