Droplet sliding behaviour on textured and fluorinated surface

Abstract

Engineered surfaces have the potential to control droplet movement phenomena on the surface. Many products that contact liquids, such as wet production processes or their machines have design parameters that include droplet movement phenomena such as sliding, rolling, slopping, coalescing and separation. This study investigated the sliding behaviour of water droplets depending on an anisotropic surface pattern. On a line-and-space patterned surface, smaller and larger droplets start sliding faster than on a flat surface in directions parallel and perpendicular to the pattern, respectively. Additionally, a decrease in line width, i.e., the ratio of contact area is an important factor in enhancing droplet sliding. The rotational and translational movement are dominant on flat and textured surfaces, respectively.