Disintegration of charged liquid jets

Abstract

Disintegration processes occurring with charged liquid jets of distilled water have been examined. High-speed photographic techniques were used to determine the effect of charging on disintegration of the jet, the size distribution of the drops formed, and the velocities of the drops. At relatively small currents, the jet remains undisplaced while the drops formed acquire components of velocity perpendicular to the jet axis. At sufficiently large currents, the jet develops kink or longitudinal instabilities which can cause the jet to be appreciably displaced, and the drops may have relatively large components of velocity perpendicular to the jet axis. The size distributions of the drops formed are significantly different from those resulting in the absence of electrification. Mean drop size decreases with increased charging in all cases. Drop speeds increase with increased charging as a result of both increased electrical repulsion and reduction in size.