Convection and surface tension profiles for aqueous droplet under microwave radiation

Abstract

Application of microwave irradiation for chemical processes, such as emulsification and polymerization, has been reported [1,2]. Surfactant free emulsion can be produced with the help of microwave irradiation. Surface tension is an important property for the industrial process such as foaming/defoaming, wetting/dewetting and flotation. Similarly, the interfacial tension plays crucial role in separation and mixing process of two immiscible liquids, which are important unit operations of the fundamental chemical engineering. In practice, surface and interfacial tensions are often altered by introducing surfactants. In our previous research [3,4], specific property for surface tension of water droplet with salt under microwave radiation was found. For example, lower surface tension after the radiation was measured. The formation of nano-bubble will explain this behavior. Normally, the surface tension of aqueous solution increases with the salt concentration because cation and anion collect water molecule more strongly as a solvation. However, the exact mechanism of surface tension reduction by microwave radiation is not clear. We tried not only measurement of surface tension but also convection in the droplet during microwave radiation. This study investigates the influence of microwave on surface tension of aqueous solution. Moreover, relation between the concentration, temperature and droplet shape, which are related with surface tension.