Viscoelastic drops moving on hydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces

Xu, H, Clarke, A, Rothstein, JP and Poole, RJ ORCID: 0000-0001-6686-4301 (2018) Viscoelastic drops moving on hydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces. JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE, 513. pp. 53-61.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.105

Abstract

So-called "superhydrophobic" surfaces are strongly non-wetting such that fluid droplets very easily roll off when the surface is tilted. Our interest here is in understanding if this is also true, all else held equal, for viscoelastic fluid drops. We study the movement of Newtonian and well-characterised constant-viscosity elastic liquids when various surfaces, including hydrophilic (smooth glass), weakly hydrophobic (embossed polycarbonate) and superhydrophobic surfaces (embossed PTFE), are impulsively tilted. Digital imaging is used to record the motion and extract drop velocity. Optical and SEM imaging is used to probe the surfaces. In comparison with "equivalent" Newtonian fluids (same viscosity, density surface tension and contact angles), profound differences for the elastic fluids are only observed on the superhydrophobic surfaces: the elastic drops slide at a significantly reduced rate and complex branch-like patterns are left on the surface by the drop's wake including, on various scales, beads-on-a-string-like phenomena. The strong viscoelastic effect is caused by stretching filaments of fluid from isolated islands, residing at pinning sites on the surface pillars, of order ∼30 µm in size. On this scale, the local strain rates are sufficient to extend the polymer chains, locally increasing the extensional viscosity of the solution, retarding the drop.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Superhydrophobic, Drops, Viscoelastic
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2017 11:04
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 06:50
DOI:	10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.105
Open Access URL:	https://ac-els-cdn-com.liverpool.idm.oclc.org/S002...
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3012548