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Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device

A two-phase flow axisymmetric numerical model was proposed to understand liquid metal droplet formation in a co-flowing capillary microfluidics device based on a phase field model. The droplet detachment processes were observed in the experiment and are in good agreement with the simulation method....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hu, Qingming, Jiang, Tianyi, Jiang, Hongyuan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074579/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32033467
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11020169
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author Hu, Qingming
Jiang, Tianyi
Jiang, Hongyuan
author_facet Hu, Qingming
Jiang, Tianyi
Jiang, Hongyuan
author_sort Hu, Qingming
collection PubMed
description A two-phase flow axisymmetric numerical model was proposed to understand liquid metal droplet formation in a co-flowing capillary microfluidics device based on a phase field model. The droplet detachment processes were observed in the experiment and are in good agreement with the simulation method. The effects of the viscosities and flowrates of the continuous phase fluid, interfacial tension as well as the wetting property of the metallic needle against the bulk liquid metal on the droplet formation and production rate were numerically investigated. It was found that the droplet diameter decreased with the increment of the viscosities and flowrates of the outer phase carrier fluid. The dispersed phase fluid with high interfacial tension tended to prolong the time for equilibrium between the viscous drag force and interfacial tension on the liquid–liquid fluid surface, delaying the droplet to be pinched off from the capillary orifice and causing large droplet diameter. Finally, the wetting performance of the metallic needle against the liquid metal was explored. The result indicate that the droplet diameter became less dependent on the contact angle while the size distribution of the liquid metal droplet was affected by their wetting performance. A more hydrophilic wetting performance were expected to prepare liquid metal droplet with more monodispersity. The numerical model and simulation results provide the feasibility of predicting the droplet formation with a high surface tension in a glass capillary microfluidic device.
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spelling pubmed-70745792020-03-20 Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device Hu, Qingming Jiang, Tianyi Jiang, Hongyuan Micromachines (Basel) Article A two-phase flow axisymmetric numerical model was proposed to understand liquid metal droplet formation in a co-flowing capillary microfluidics device based on a phase field model. The droplet detachment processes were observed in the experiment and are in good agreement with the simulation method. The effects of the viscosities and flowrates of the continuous phase fluid, interfacial tension as well as the wetting property of the metallic needle against the bulk liquid metal on the droplet formation and production rate were numerically investigated. It was found that the droplet diameter decreased with the increment of the viscosities and flowrates of the outer phase carrier fluid. The dispersed phase fluid with high interfacial tension tended to prolong the time for equilibrium between the viscous drag force and interfacial tension on the liquid–liquid fluid surface, delaying the droplet to be pinched off from the capillary orifice and causing large droplet diameter. Finally, the wetting performance of the metallic needle against the liquid metal was explored. The result indicate that the droplet diameter became less dependent on the contact angle while the size distribution of the liquid metal droplet was affected by their wetting performance. A more hydrophilic wetting performance were expected to prepare liquid metal droplet with more monodispersity. The numerical model and simulation results provide the feasibility of predicting the droplet formation with a high surface tension in a glass capillary microfluidic device. MDPI 2020-02-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7074579/ /pubmed/32033467 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11020169 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hu, Qingming
Jiang, Tianyi
Jiang, Hongyuan
Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device
title Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device
title_full Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device
title_fullStr Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device
title_full_unstemmed Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device
title_short Numerical Simulation and Experimental Validation of Liquid Metal Droplet Formation in a Co-Flowing Capillary Microfluidic Device
title_sort numerical simulation and experimental validation of liquid metal droplet formation in a co-flowing capillary microfluidic device
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7074579/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32033467
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi11020169
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