154e Dynamics of Impact of Drops on a Substrate with Small-Scale Features

A. M. T. T. Al-Housseiny, Hariprasad Subramani, and Osman A. Basaran. School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University, 480 Stadium Mall Dr., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2100

The impact of drops on substrates is a problem of scientific and technological importance. Indeed, drop impact plays a central role in diverse micro-scale or MEMS applications, such as ink jet printing and DNA/protein micro-arraying, and also in large-scale applications, such as spray coating of foliage and fire suppression. For over one hundred years, researchers have focused attention on situations in which drops collide with and spread on smooth planar substrates. By contrast, the problem of drop impact on non-planar substrates, e.g. spheres, cylinders, and pedestals, has become of interest only quite recently. Here we report the results of an experimental study on the dynamics of impact of drops of various liquids on solid substrates that are distinguished by the presence of small-scale features. A high-speed imager and associated image analysis system is used to monitor the dynamics of the impact process by capturing the motion of a single liquid drop as it falls vertically from various heights and collides with the substrate. The experiments are conducted over wide ranges of the governing dimensionless groups comprised of the Weber number We that measures the relative importance of inertial to surface tension force, Ohnesorge number Oh that measures the relative importance of viscous to surface tension force, Bond number G that measures the relative importance of gravitational to surface tensions force, relative roughness of the substrate, and length ratios that characterize the features. The impact dynamics in the present case are found to differ significantly from those where drops impact on smooth planar substrates. The experimental results are used to construct phase/operability diagrams in (We, Oh)-space that delineate regimes of (a) drop spreading or successful liquid deposition and (b) drop splashing or liquid fragmentation.