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Electrowetting and wettability-driven spreading of liquids on porous and nonporous substrates was investigated using impact of drops of epoxy resin, epoxy hardener, and epoxy resin and hardener, as well as silicone and turpentine oils with oil-soluble aniline dyes onto balsa wood and polypropylene surfaces. The experimental results revealed that the electric field stretched drops of epoxy resin, epoxy hardener, and epoxy resin and hardener after impact on polypropylene substrate in the long-term. The spreading of drops of epoxy resin and turpentine oil with dyes after impact onto porous balsa wood under the action of a 10 kV applied voltage was relatively weak. In addition, the measured footprint areas corresponding to drops of epoxy resin, epoxy hardener, and epoxy resin and hardener demonstrated a significant increase in the wetted areas driven by the applied voltage of 10 kV on polypropylene substrate, whereas on balsa wood, the footprint is practically unaffected by the electric field. Furthermore, it was determined that surface wettability was the main mechanism of spreading of epoxy resin, as well as silicone and turpentine oils with aniline dyes on porous balsa without the electric field applied. On the other hand, insufficient concentration of ions and counterions in silicone oil was responsible for the absence of electrohydrodynamic effects after impact of such drops onto porous balsa substrate subjected to high potentials of 7 and 10 kV. Hence, wettability-driven spreading with imbibition on balsa wood was the only reason for an increase in the wetted area in the case of silicone oil.
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Dielectrophoretic stretching of drops of silicone oil: Experiments and multi-physical modeling
It is shown experimentally that drops of two pure silicone oils of different viscosities on a polypropylene substrate do not react to the in-plane electric field. Pre-treatment of silicone oil in a humid atmosphere at 80% relative humidity enriches oil with water-related ions and results in subsequent drop slight stretching under the action of the in-plane electric field. These phenomena demonstrate that the original silicone oils do not contain a sufficient concentration of any ions and counter-ions for the appearance of any Coulomb force or Maxwell stresses, which would result in drop stretching. However, a stronger stretching of silicone oil drops on the polypropylene substrate subjected to the in-plane electric field was experimentally demonstrated when 5 wt. % of [Formula: see text] particles was suspended in oil. The particles behave as electric dipoles and, when subjected to a nonlinear symmetric electric field, experience dielectrophoretic force, which attracts them to both electrodes in air and oil. 3D simulations of the dielectrophoretically driven evolution of silicone oil drops laden with TiO2particles also revealed a significant drop stretching in the inter-electrode direction in qualitative agreement with the experimental data. Still, numerical simulations predict an unbounded stretching with two tongues developing at the two drop sides. This prediction disagrees with the experiments where the dielectrophoretically driven stretching ceases and steady-state drop configurations without tongues are attained. This disagreement is probably related to the fact that in the experiments, [Formula: see text] particles settle onto the substrate and are subjected to significant additional friction forces, which could ultimately arrest them.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1906497
- PAR ID:
- 10364718
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Institute of Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Fluids
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1070-6631
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. 042108
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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