Abstract
Droplet evaporation on porous materials is a complex dynamic that occurs with spontaneous liquid imbibition through pores by capillary action. Here, we explore water dynamics on a porous fabric substrate with in-situ observations of X-ray and optical imaging techniques. We show how spreading and wicking lead to water imbibition through a porous substrate, enhancing the wetted surface area and consequently promoting evaporation. These sequential dynamics offer a framework to understand the alterations in the evaporation due to porosity for the particular case of fabric materials and a clue of how face masks interact with respiratory droplets.
Highlights
Droplet evaporation on porous materials is a complex dynamic that occurs with spontaneous liquid imbibition through pores by capillary action
We have studied the evaporation of water droplets on porous and non-porous substrates and demonstrated that the evaporation rates can be affected by the water imbibition and increased wetted area depending on the substrates properties
It is shown that the evaporation rate is the largest on the fabric material because the spontaneous imbibition into the porous media accelerates the expansion of the wetted surface area under evaporation
Summary
Droplet evaporation on porous materials is a complex dynamic that occurs with spontaneous liquid imbibition through pores by capillary action. We show how spreading and wicking lead to water imbibition through a porous substrate, enhancing the wetted surface area and promoting evaporation These sequential dynamics offer a framework to understand the alterations in the evaporation due to porosity for the particular case of fabric materials and a clue of how face masks interact with respiratory droplets. The evaporation of a droplet on a flat solid substrate is a complex fundamental physical phenomenon that has been well studied theoretically, experimentally, and numerically[11,12,13] Unlike these previously mentioned dynamics, a droplet on porous substrates encounters spreading at the surface and imbibition into the media, which would significantly affect droplet evaporation d ynamics[14,15,16]. This relationship is expressed in the Lucas-Washburn equation, l
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