Jolet de Ruiter

Drops on functional fibers: from barrels to clamshells and back

Drops on cylindrical fibers are a familiar sight, for instance in the form of dew drops on spider webs. They can exist in two competing morphologies, a cylindrically symmetric barrel state completely engulfing the fiber and an asymmetric clamshell state, in which the drop touches the fiber only sideways. Despite their omnipresence and their practical relevance, e.g. for the adherence of drops to fibers in separation technology and filter materials, the physical mechanisms governing the stability of the two morphologies remained elusive. Using electrowetting-functionalized fibers we can tune the wettability of the fibers and thereby reversibly switch between the two states. This allows determination of the stability limits of both morphologies as a function of the two relevant control parameters, namely the contact angle and the liquid volume. While clamshells are found to prevail for large contact angles and small volumes, and barrels prevail for small angles and large volumes, there is also a wide range of intermediate parameter values, for which both morphologies are mechanically stable. Mapping out the energy landscape of the system by numerical minimization of the free energy we find that the barrel state is easily deformed by non-axisymmetric perturbations. Such perturbations facilitate the transition to the clamshell state and thereby the removal of drops from the fibers. From a general perspective, the demonstration of electrowetting-based reversible switching of liquid morphologies on fibers opens up opportunities for designing functional textiles and porous materials for various applications in detergency, filtering, and controlled absorption and release of liquids.

Air cushioning in droplet impact. II. Experimental characterization of the air film evolution

A liquid drop approaching a solid surface deforms substantially under the influence of the ambient air which needs to be squeezed out before the liquid can actually touch the solid. We use nanometer- and microsecond-resolved dual wavelength interferometry described in Part I (also published in this issue) to reveal the complex spatial and temporal evolution of the squeezed air layer. In low-velocity droplet impact, i.e., We numbers of order unity, the confined air layer below the droplet develops two local minima in thickness. We quantitatively measure the evolution of the droplet bottom interface and find that surface tension determines the air film thickness below the first kink, after which fluid is diverted outward to form a second even sharper kink. Depending on We, one of the two kinks approaches the surface more closely forming liquid-solid contact. The early time spreading of liquid-solid contact is controlled by the capillary driving force and the inertia of the liquid. The cushioned air film geometry, i.e., a flat micrometer-thin gap, induces an increase of the spreading velocity; the contact area first spreads over the cushioned region, only then followed by radial spreading. This spreading mechanism can lead to the entrapment of one or more air bubbles.

Buoyant droplets on functional fibers

In the absence of gravity, the wetting of droplets on fibers is characterized by the competition between an axisymmetric barrel morphology engulfing the fiber and a symmetry-broken clamshell morphology with the droplet sitting on the side of the fiber. In the generic case of nonzero buoyancy the cylindrical symmetry of the barrel morphology is broken, yet barrels and clamshells can still be distinguished based on their different interfacial topologies being multiply and simply connected, respectively. Next to contact angle and droplet size the capillary length appears as a third parameter controlling the droplet morphology. For droplets of variable size, contact angle and buoyancy are independently varied in experiments by use of electrowetting and density mismatch. This approach--together with the complementary numerical calculations--provides new insights into the gradual shifts of the stability limits in the presence of an external volume force. Overall, the parameter space for stable clamshells is found to expand with increasing gravitational forces, gradually shrinking the regimes of stable barrels and bistability. In addition, a new stability limit is introduced for the clamshell morphology related to a partial detachment of the wetting liquid from the fiber, appearing toward higher droplet volumes.

Air cushioning in droplet impact. I. Dynamics of thin films studied by dual wavelength reflection interference microscopy

When a liquid droplet impacts on a solid surface, it not only deforms substantially but also an air film develops between the droplet and the surface. This thin air film—as well as other transparent films—can be characterized by reflection interference microscopy. Even for weakly reflecting interfaces, relative thickness variations of the order of tens of nanometers are easily detected, yet the absolute thickness is generally known only up to an additive constant which is a multiple of half of the wavelength. Here, we present an optical setup for measuring the absolute film thickness and its spatial and temporal behavior using a combination of a standard Hg lamp, an optical microscope, and three synchronized high-speed cameras to detect conventional side-view images as well as interferometric bottom view images at two different wavelengths. The combination of a dual wavelength approach with the finite coherence length set by the broad bandwidth of the optical filters allows for measuring the absolute thickness of transient air films with a spatial resolution better than 30 nm at 50 μs time resolution with a maximum detectable film thickness of approximately 8 μm. This technique will be exploited in Part II to characterize the air film evolution during low velocity droplet impacts.