Coalescence characteristics of vibrated drops on a wettability gradient surface

Abstract

The coalescence characteristics of two vibrated droplets at a certain distance on a microstructured surface with gradient wettability are investigated using a high-speed camera in this work. The results show that the volume ratio of the two droplets has a significant effect on the vibration modes. With the change in the volume ratio, the droplet exhibits different vibration modes, such as the pumping mode (PM), the rocking mode (RM) or the pumping–rocking mixed mode (PRM). In addition, the coalescence time of the two droplets varies with the volume ratio. When the volume ratio is close to 1, the two vibrated droplets are in synchronous PM and the coalescence time is the shortest. When the volume ratio is far from 1, the two droplets may show the RM, the asynchronous PM or the PRM. At this point, the coalescence time is increased, particularly for small volume ratios. Finally, the movement characteristics of three-phase contact lines are discussed, and a theoretical model is proposed to analyze the coalescence process. This work provides a new method to remove droplets rapidly, which is essential to enhance the heat-transfer performance of dropwise condensation.