Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids

We study the dynamics of fragmentation for Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids in rotary atomization. In this common industrial process centripetal acceleration destabilizes the liquid torus that forms at the rim of a spinning cup or disk due to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The resulting ligament...

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Main Authors: Keshavarz, Bavand, Houze, Eric C., Moore, John R., Koerner, Michael R., McKinley, Gareth H
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hatsopoulos Microfluids Laboratory
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society (APS) 2021
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129791
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author Keshavarz, Bavand
Houze, Eric C.
Moore, John R.
Koerner, Michael R.
McKinley, Gareth H
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hatsopoulos Microfluids Laboratory
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hatsopoulos Microfluids Laboratory
Keshavarz, Bavand
Houze, Eric C.
Moore, John R.
Koerner, Michael R.
McKinley, Gareth H
author_sort Keshavarz, Bavand
collection MIT
description We study the dynamics of fragmentation for Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids in rotary atomization. In this common industrial process centripetal acceleration destabilizes the liquid torus that forms at the rim of a spinning cup or disk due to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The resulting ligaments leave the liquid torus with a remarkably repeatable spacing that scales inversely with the rotation rate. The fluid filaments then follow a well-defined geometrical path-line that is described by the involute of a circle. Knowing the geometry of this phenomenon we derive the detailed kinematics of this process and compare it with the experimental observations. We show that the ligaments elongate tangentially along the involute of the circle and thin radially as they separate from the cup. We use these kinematic conditions to develop an expression for the spatial variation of the filament deformation rate and show that it decays away from the spinning cup. Once the ligaments are sufficiently far from the cup, they are not stretched sufficiently fast to overcome the critical rate of capillary thinning and consequently undergo capillary-driven breakup forming droplets. We couple these kinematic considerations with the known properties of several Newtonian and viscoelastic test liquids to develop a quantitative understanding of this commercially important fragmentation process that can be compared in detail with experimental observations. We also investigate the resulting droplet size distributions and observe that the appearance of satellite droplets during the pinch-off process lead to the emergence of bidisperse droplet size distributions. These binary distributions are well described by the superposition of two separate Γ distributions that capture the physics of the disintegration process for the main and satellite droplets, respectively. Furthermore, as we consider more viscous Newtonian liquids or weakly viscoelastic test fluids, we show that changes in the liquid viscosity or viscoelasticity have a negligible effect on the average droplet size. However, incorporation of viscous/viscoelastic effects delays the thinning dynamics in the ligaments and thus results in broader droplet size distributions. The ratio of the primary to satellite droplet size increases monotonically with both viscosity and viscoelasticity. We develop a simple physical model that rationalizes the observed experimental trends and provides us a better understanding of the principal dynamical features of rotary fragmentation for both Newtonian and weakly viscoelastic liquids.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1297912022-09-30T15:24:36Z Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids Keshavarz, Bavand Houze, Eric C. Moore, John R. Koerner, Michael R. McKinley, Gareth H Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hatsopoulos Microfluids Laboratory Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering We study the dynamics of fragmentation for Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids in rotary atomization. In this common industrial process centripetal acceleration destabilizes the liquid torus that forms at the rim of a spinning cup or disk due to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The resulting ligaments leave the liquid torus with a remarkably repeatable spacing that scales inversely with the rotation rate. The fluid filaments then follow a well-defined geometrical path-line that is described by the involute of a circle. Knowing the geometry of this phenomenon we derive the detailed kinematics of this process and compare it with the experimental observations. We show that the ligaments elongate tangentially along the involute of the circle and thin radially as they separate from the cup. We use these kinematic conditions to develop an expression for the spatial variation of the filament deformation rate and show that it decays away from the spinning cup. Once the ligaments are sufficiently far from the cup, they are not stretched sufficiently fast to overcome the critical rate of capillary thinning and consequently undergo capillary-driven breakup forming droplets. We couple these kinematic considerations with the known properties of several Newtonian and viscoelastic test liquids to develop a quantitative understanding of this commercially important fragmentation process that can be compared in detail with experimental observations. We also investigate the resulting droplet size distributions and observe that the appearance of satellite droplets during the pinch-off process lead to the emergence of bidisperse droplet size distributions. These binary distributions are well described by the superposition of two separate Γ distributions that capture the physics of the disintegration process for the main and satellite droplets, respectively. Furthermore, as we consider more viscous Newtonian liquids or weakly viscoelastic test fluids, we show that changes in the liquid viscosity or viscoelasticity have a negligible effect on the average droplet size. However, incorporation of viscous/viscoelastic effects delays the thinning dynamics in the ligaments and thus results in broader droplet size distributions. The ratio of the primary to satellite droplet size increases monotonically with both viscosity and viscoelasticity. We develop a simple physical model that rationalizes the observed experimental trends and provides us a better understanding of the principal dynamical features of rotary fragmentation for both Newtonian and weakly viscoelastic liquids. 2021-02-17T18:42:53Z 2021-02-17T18:42:53Z 2020-03 2019-09 2020-07-31T13:56:27Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2469-990X https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129791 Keshavarz, Bavand et al. "Rotary atomization of newtonian and viscoelastic liquids." Physical Fluids Review 5, 3 (March 2020): 003601 ©2020 American Physical Society. en 10.1103/PhysRevFluids.5.033601 Physical Review Fluids Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society (APS) APS
spellingShingle Keshavarz, Bavand
Houze, Eric C.
Moore, John R.
Koerner, Michael R.
McKinley, Gareth H
Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids
title Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids
title_full Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids
title_fullStr Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids
title_full_unstemmed Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids
title_short Rotary atomization of Newtonian and viscoelastic liquids
title_sort rotary atomization of newtonian and viscoelastic liquids
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129791
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AT koernermichaelr rotaryatomizationofnewtonianandviscoelasticliquids
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