Non-coalescence and chain formation of droplets under an alternating current electric field

The dynamic behaviors of two droplets and droplet cluster under an alternating current (AC) electric field are investigated. Two droplets generally undergo transformation from complete coalescence to partial coalescence and finally to non-coalescence as the electric capillary number Ca_p increases. The critical electric capillary number Ca_pc for complete coalescence in the AC electric field remains unchanged and is twice as large as that in the direct current (DC) electric field when the frequency f ≥ 250 Hz. Charge transfer and reversal of electric field result in the reversal of the direction of electric force, which is the fundamental mechanism of non-coalescence of two droplets and chain formation in droplet cluster. The number of rebounds dramatically increases as f increases, promoting the stability of droplet chain. The droplet chains in the high-frequency AC electric field are longer and more stable than those in the low-frequency AC electric field.     

Non-coalescence behavior of neutral droplets suspended in oil under a direct current electric field

The excessive electric field gives rise to droplet non-coalescence and droplet chains in the electric dehydrator, which severely deteriorates oil–water separation efficiency and even leads to short circuit. To reveal the underlying mechanism of droplet non-coalescence, dynamic behavior of two neutral droplets in silicone oil under a direct current electric field is investigated by using high-speed photography. The experimental results show that there exists a critical electric field strength above which two droplets will bounce off after the contact. The critical electric field strength of droplet non-coalescence is affected by the initial separation distance between droplets, the radius of droplet, and the surfactant concentration. Whether the non-coalescence behavior occurs in the electric field is determined by the competition of electric force and capillary force, which dominates the evolution of tiny connection channel.     

Experimental study on fusion and break-up motion after droplet collision

The interactions between droplets have an important influence on the atomization of liquid fuel, the combustion efficiency, and the reduction of particulate matter emissions for an engine. For this reason, this paper presents results from an experimental study on the coalescence and break-up of droplets after collision. According to the shape and parameters of the droplets at different times after the collision of the droplets was captured by a high speed camera, analysis was done for the following effects of droplet collisions: the collision-coalescence motion for the collision between the droplets, the change history of the dimensionless length-to-width ratio of the oscillation motion, the critical size ratio of the breakup motion, and the liquid physical properties of the particles. The results show that the droplets collide and exhibit two forms of coalescence oscillation and break-up: for oscillating motion, at higher droplet collision velocities and dimensionless size ratios, there will be a larger dimensionless length-to-width ratio for the droplet oscillation; for the break-up motion, at higher collision velocities, there will be lower dimensionless size ratios, and lower liquid surface tension, shorter times over which the droplet breaks, and facilitated droplet break-up. The research results presented here can be used for atomization in engine cylinder, increasing the gas/liquid contact area and enhancing the combustion efficiency of gas/liquid heat transfer to improve the combustion efficiency of the engine.     

T型微流控芯片中微液滴破裂的数值模拟

利用VOF模型对T型结构微流控芯片中微液滴的三维破裂过程进行了数值模拟,获得了液滴发生破裂和不会破裂两种流型。一定轴向长度的微液滴对应着一个临界毛细数,当主流流体的毛细数大于此临界毛细数时,微液滴发生破裂并分别流向T型结构两侧;否则不会发生破裂,微液滴流向任意一侧。通过多个工况的计算,拟合了临界毛细数与微液滴相对轴向长度的关系,探讨了黏度比对微液滴破裂的影响。发现黏度比越小,微液滴越易发生破裂。     

Development of polymer blend morphology during compounding in a twin-screw extruder. Part I: Droplet dispersion and coalescence—a review

The theoretical and experimental data on the breakup of droplets are reviewed. Several factors influence development of droplets: flow type and its intensity, viscosity ratio, elasticity of polymers, composition, thermodynamic interactions, time, etc. For Newtonian systems undergoing small, linear deformation, both the viscosity ratio and the capillary number control deformability of drops. On the other hand, the breakup process can be described by the dimensionless breakup time and the critical capillary number. Drops are more efficiently broken in elongational flow than in shear, especially when the viscosity ratio λ ? 3. The drop deformation and breakup seems to be more difficult in viscoelastic systems than in Newtonian ones. There is no theory able to describe the deformability of viscoelastic droplet suspended in a viscoelastic or even Newtonian medium. The effect of droplets coalescence on the final morphology ought to be considered, even at low concentration of the dispersed phase, ?_d ? 0.005. Several drop breakup and coalescence theories were briefly reviewed. However, they are of little direct use for quantitative prediction of the polymer blend morphology during compounding in a twin-screw extruder. Their value is limited to serving as general guides to the process modeling.     

Transient and steady-state deformations and breakup of dispersed-phase droplets of immiscible polymer blends in steady shear flow

Transient and steady-state deformations and breakup of viscoelastic polystyrene droplets dispersed in viscoelastic high-density polyethylene matrices were observed in a simple steady shear flow between two transparent parallel disks. By separately varying the elasticities of the individual blend components, the matrix shear viscosity, and the viscosity ratio, their effects on the transient deformation, steady-state droplet size, and the breakup sequence were determined. After the startup of a steady shear flow, the viscoelastic droplet initially exhibits oscillations of its length in the flow direction, but eventually stretches preferentially in the vorticity direction. We find that at fixed capillary number, the oscillation amplitude decreases with increasing droplet elasticity, while the oscillation period depends primarily on, and increases with, the viscosity ratio. At steady-state, the droplet length along the vorticity direction increases with increasing capillary number, viscosity ratio, and droplet elasticity. Remarkably, at a viscosity ratio of unity, the droplets remain in a nearly undeformed state as the capillary number is varied between 2 and 8, apparently because under these conditions a tendency for the droplets to widen in the vorticity direction counteracts their tendency to stretch in the flow direction. When a critical capillary number, Ca_c, is exceeded, the droplet finally stretches in the vorticity direction and forms a string which becomes thinner and finally breaks up, provided that the droplet elasticity is sufficiently high. For a fixed matrix shear stress and droplet elasticity, the steady-state deformation along the vorticity direction and the critical capillary number for breakup both increase with increasing viscosity ratio.     

Droplet break-up by in-line Silverson rotor–stator mixer

Silverson high shear in-line rotor–stator mixers are widely applied in industry for the manufacture of emulsion-based products but the current understanding of droplet breakage and coalescence in these devices is limited. The aim of this paper is to increase the understanding of droplet break-up mechanisms and to identify appropriate literature correlations for in-line rotor–stator mixers. Silicone oils with viscosities ranging from 9.4 to 969 mPa s were emulsified with surfactant in an in-line Silverson at rotor speeds up to 11,000 rpm and flow rates up to 5 tonnes/h. The effect of rotor speed, flow rate, dispersed phase fraction up to 50 wt%, inlet drop size and viscosity ratio on droplet size was investigated. It was found that rotor speed and dispersed phase viscosity have a significant effect on the droplet size, while flow rate, inlet droplet size, viscosity ratio and dispersed phase volume have a lesser effect. The results indicate that low viscosity droplets are broken by turbulent inertial stresses, while droplets smaller than the Kolmogorov length scale are broken by a combination of inertial and viscous stresses. It also appears that the weak dependence of drop size on flow rate enables the energy efficiency of an in-line high shear Silverson to be significantly improved by operating at as high a flow rate as possible.     

Microdroplet coalescences at microchannel junctions with different collision angles

Microdroplet coalescence mechanism is very important for the miniaturization of multiphase chemical processes with microstructured devices. Using three working systems with different physical properties, this article presents an experimental study on the fluid dynamics of microdroplet coalescence at different microchannel junctions. The critical capillary number to distinguish coalescence or noncoalescence of microdroplet is investigated and its variations with droplet size, collision angle, and physical properties are analyzed with two important parameters – the film drainage time and droplet contact time. Experimental results indicate that microdroplet coalescence can be enhanced by reducing the droplet collision angle. The differences of microdroplet coalescences in confined microchannels and free‐flowing spaces are provided with the analysis of critical capillary number. A model equation is proposed to predict the critical capillary numbers in this study, which may provide valuable information for the design and development of new microstructured chemical device. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 643–649, 2013     

Morphology evolution and dynamics of droplet coalescence on superhydrophobic surfaces

In this work, the coalescence of two equal‐sized water droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) is experimentally investigated. The morphologies of droplet coalescence are observed from side‐view and bottom‐view using high‐speed camera system. The related morphology evolution and dynamics of droplet coalescence are explored. The dynamic behaviors of droplet coalescence on SHSs can be decomposed into liquid bridge growth, contact line evolution, and droplet jumping. The liquid bridge radius is proportional to the square root of time, whereas the dimensionless prefactor is decreased from 1.18 to 0.83 due to the transition of interface curvature. The retraction velocity of the contact line shows limited dependence on initial droplet radii as the retraction dynamics considered here are governed by the capillary–inertial effect. The coalesced droplet finally departs the substrate with a dimensionless jumping velocity of around 0.2. A heuristic argument is made to account for the nearly constant dimensionless jumping velocity. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2913–2921, 2018     

Effect of liquid bridge evolution on the droplet non-coalescence under a DC electric field

The droplet non-coalescence characteristics and mechanism under a DC electric field are investigated by comprehensively using high-speed microscopic experiments, molecular dynamics simulations, and interface dynamics simulations. The researches show whether two droplets coalesce or not depends on the evolution of liquid bridge. The liquid bridge evolution is not only dominated by the electric force F_E and the capillary force F_i, but also slowed down by the viscous force. The relative strength of F_E and capillary force F_i relies on the electric capillary number Ca and the maximum liquid bridge radius R*_max. The droplet non-coalescence is more likely to happen as the Ca increases or the R*_max decreases. Furthermore, the critical value Ca_c for droplet non-coalescence reduces as the R*_max decreases. The ion transportation causes uneven distribution of ions and thus strengthens the F_E, resulting in the non-coalescence. These results provide significant guidance for efficient demulsification of water-in-oil emulsion.     

Water-in-triglyceride oil emulsions. Effect of fat crystals on stability

The influence of low concentrations (0.1-5%) of fat crystals on the stability of water-in-soybean oil emulsions was examined by light scattering and sedimentation experiments. Both the initial flocculation/coalescence rate and long-term stability against water separation were determined. The initial flocculation/coalescence rate increased upon addition of small amounts of fat crystals. When the crystal concentration was increased above a critical concentration (specific to a system), a decrease in the flocculation/coalescence rate occurred. The increased flocculation/coalescence rate is likely the effect of bridging of water droplets by fat crystals. Fat crystal wetting by water is an important criterion for this phenomenon to occur. Emulsion stabilization for crystal concentrations above critical is caused by a mechanical screening of water droplets. The presence of considerable amounts of crystals in oil also lowered the density difference between droplet and medium, and enhanced viscosity. The degree of increase in viscosity depended upon the emulsifier. Both a decrease in density difference and an increase in viscosity play a role in hindering flocculation/coalescence of droplets. In long-term studies of water separation, all concentrations of fat crystals stabilized the water-in-oil emulsions. The droplet size of these emulsions increased until the critical droplet size was approached where the screening effect of crystals on the droplets no longer stabilized the emulsions. The stabilizing effect for emulsions with monoolein was continuously improved by increasing the amount of crystals up to 5%. For lecithin-stabilized emulsions, an optimal effect was achieved for fact crystal concentrations of 1–2%.     

A time‐scale approach for analysis of coalescence in processing flows

Coalescence of droplets in flow through capillary dies and in the filling of strip molds was investigated using experiments and time‐scale analysis. The time scales of droplet approach, droplet‐droplet interactions, and fluid drainage were compared with the time scales of flow in order to predict the extent of coalescence in each case. In the case of capillary dies, coalescence took place predominantly in the zones away from the die wall and away from the die axis, and the expanse of the coalescence zone increased with blend composition and decreased with mean shear rate. In the case of mold filling, droplet coalescence took place after the polymer flowed a characteristic distance along the mold. A semiquantitative agreement was found between the predictions and the experimental results obtained using blends of polypropylene and polystyrene. In addition to larger‐diameter droplets, long fibrils, formed by stringing of coalescing droplets, were observed. Polym. Eng. Sci. 44:2254–2265, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

The role of organically modified layered silicate in the breakup and coalescence of droplets in PBT/PE blends

In this study, we investigated the effect of organically modified nanoclay (organoclay) on the morphology of immiscible polymer blends (PBT/PE) with various compositions of PBT ranging from 1 to 90 wt%. When a small amount of organoclay between 1 and 3 phr is added to the blend, the thin clay tactoids of the thickness of the order of 10 nm are located at the interface between PBT and PE phase. As its content is increased, the additional organoclay positions in a specific component depending on its affinity with the component. The addition of a small amount of organoclay results in the effective size reduction for PBT/PE blend. The organoclay located at the interface forms the interfacial phase with a non-homogeneous distribution of clay along the interface and changes the interfacial tension, which result in the coalescence suppression of the droplets. Rigid organoclay with a high aspect ratio allows the blend morphology with long-term thermal stability by suppressing the Brownian motion. This ability of the organoclay to suppress the coalescence of the droplets effectively reduces the droplet size. On the other hand, additional organoclay results in the rheological properties of particular component being increased, which means the change in the viscosity ratio. The change in the viscosity ratio, together with the coalescence suppression effect, affects the determination of the droplet size, depending on the location of the organoclay. Therefore, the organoclay suppresses the coalescence of the droplets at the interface, while simultaneously influencing the breakup of the droplets due to the change of viscosity ratio.     

Drop mixing in suspension polymerisation

In suspension polymerisation, monomer is suspended as liquid droplets in a continuous water phase by means of strong agitation and the presence of a suspending agent. As the suspension polymerisation proceeds, the viscosity of a monomer-polymer droplet increases with conversion. Hence, the physical behaviour of the droplet changes during the process. When new dispersible material is added to the existing suspension drops, the new material and existing drops can remain segregated for significant amounts of time. The aim of this project was to study the behaviour of drop mixing when new material is added to the existing suspension polymerisation. This study concentrated on the effect of the dispersed phase viscosity on drop mixing. The results show that viscosity affects drop size and that may then affect the rate of coalescence between drops. A critical drop size exists which determines the coalescence efficiency effect. Above the critical drop size, mixing rate increases as the drop viscosity decreases. While below the critical drop size, drop size of the dispersion determines the coalescence rate; as the drop size increases, coalescence rate also increases. The investigation of the effect of suspending agent shows that Tween 20 is more efficient in stabilising and protecting the drops, based on a weight basis, than PVA as the coalescence rate is lower with Tween 20.     

撞击流内液滴碰撞后续发展行为

为了探索撞击流内液滴碰撞后续发展行为,设计搭建了由激光点光源和高速数码摄像机构成的高速数码摄像系统及气液两相撞击流实验平台。利用高速数码摄像系统记录下同轴对置气液两相撞击流中液滴碰撞导致的融合聚结或二次雾化过程,通过处理记录下的液滴运动过程图像,分析了进口液滴粒径、速度、黏度以及液滴碰撞角度等对撞击流中液滴碰撞结果的影响规律。结果表明：随着进口液滴粒径和速度的无限增大,液滴碰撞后最终发生炸裂;进口液滴黏度越小、表面张力越大、Ohnesorge数越小,液滴碰撞后越容易破碎;在本实验条件下,液滴同轴同向运动发生碰撞时,液滴碰撞后全部聚结,当液滴以一定角度发生斜碰时,碰撞后发生拉伸断裂,而当液滴同轴相向运动发生碰撞时,液滴碰撞后可能发生反射分离也可能炸裂。     

Analysis of Non‐Isothermal Viscous Flow Coalescence at Micro Scale

The non‐isothermal coalescence of two spherical bodies caused by capillary‐induced viscous flow was analyzed. Based on this analysis, a new dimensionless number ( K number) was introduced for defining thermal coalescence regimes. Based on the value of this number, coalescence may or may not be affected by thermal effects in different cases. To make this clearer, the conventional coalescence models of Frenkel‐Eshelby and Pokluda were modified by assuming viscosity as a temperature dependent variable. This was conducted by considering the effects of temperature on the viscosity of the involved material through evaluating different expressions including linear and Reynolds and Williams‐Landel‐Ferry (WLF) equations. The results of the modified models for the bridge growth rate show that temperature changes significantly affect the kinetics of coalescence, particularly when the characteristic times of coalescence and heat conduction are in the same order, i.e., moderate K numbers. This analysis is applicable for diverse situations since viscous flow coalescence occurs in various physical and industrial applications of particles or droplets.     

不对称T型微通道内液滴的无阻塞破裂动力学

利用高速摄像机研究了不对称T型微通道内液滴的无阻塞破裂过程。以甘油-水溶液为分散相,含4%（质量分数）表面活性剂Span-20的矿物油为连续相。液滴的无阻塞破裂过程可分为三个阶段：进入阶段、形变阶段和破裂阶段。其中破裂阶段又可分为快速破裂阶段和细丝破裂阶段两个子阶段。考察了表观流速、无量纲液滴长度和两相黏度比对破裂阶段的影响。结果表明：快速破裂阶段是一个自相似过程,无量纲颈部最小宽度与无量纲剩余时间呈幂律关系,幂律指数约为1.35。细丝破裂阶段无量纲最小颈部宽度与无量纲剩余时间呈线性关系。斜率随着表观速度和无量纲液滴长度的增大而增大,随两相黏度比的增大而减小。     

Turbulent liquid–liquid dispersion in SMV static mixer at high dispersed phase concentration

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of physico-chemical parameters on liquid–liquid dispersion at high dispersed phase concentration in Sulzer SMV™ mixer. Four different oil-in-water systems involving two different surfactants are used in order to evaluate the effect of interfacial tension, densities and viscosities ratio on mean droplets size diameters. Moreover the influence of the dispersed phase concentration on the pressure drop as well as on the droplet size distribution is investigated. Two different droplets size distribution analysis techniques are used in order to compare the resulting Sauter mean diameters. The comparison between residence time in the mixer and surfactants adsorption kinetics leads to take into account the evolution of the interfacial tension between both phases at short times. Finally experimental results are correlated as a function of dimensionless Reynolds and Weber numbers.     

Interfacial phenomena and droplet size of particle stabilized emulsions in oscillatory shear

Production of particle stabilized oil in water emulsions has been investigated both theoretically and experimentally under oscillatory shear conditions using different stabilizing particles (SPs). The investigation included analysis of the interaction between particles interfacial stability and droplets breakage and coalescence. For hydrophobic SPs, droplets maintained their sizes as determined by torque balance (TB) without significant breakage or coalescence. For the more hydrophilic SPs, larger droplets formed that broke by eddies in the inertial subrange. At higher fluid shear stresses, loss of the SPs occurred during droplet formation leading to near bare droplet surface and coalescence to much larger sizes with subsequent fragmentation by capillary instabilities. The final droplet size in both cases was very different from TB model predictions. A modeling approach is proposed that combined both TB and droplet breakage and coalescence mechanisms. Comparison between the experimental results and the models predictions showed satisfactory agreement. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 2902–2911, 2016     

Geometry-driven coalescence of water droplets in a highly viscous fluid

This work is dedicated to numerical studies of the coalescence of water droplets moving in bitumen. The Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the volume of fluid model (VOF) using adaptive grids techniques, available in the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Ansys Fluent 20R2, were solved numerically to investigate the behaviour of water droplets with diameters from 1 to 100 μm moving in rapidly converging and diverging microchannels of different sizes. The model has been validated against 3-D experimental data published in the literature. A good agreement has been demonstrated. The results of simulations revealed that the main parameter influencing coalescence is the bulk flow velocity in the channel. Analysis of unsteady simulations showed the existence of a critical flow velocity, above which no coalescence occurs, corresponding to capillary number Ca < 0.5 for droplets Reynolds number Re < 0.1. Besides, image processing analysis has been used for a mean droplet size estimation in different geometries. A mean size significantly increased due to the late coalescence occurring in a wider constriction.