Interaction and motion of two neighboring Leidenfrost droplets on oil surface

Abstract

Evaporation of droplets on a hot oil surface is a natural phenomenon. However, most of existing studies focus on the evaporation of a single droplet, and the evaporation of multiple droplets is insufficiently understood. Here, we explore the Leidenfrost evaporation of two identical FC-72 droplets on the surface of a hot oil bath. The oil temperature ranges from 73.6 to 126.6 ℃, and the evaporation of droplets each with an initial diameter of 1.5 mm is recorded by an infrared thermographer and a high-speed camera. The shallow oil depth keeps the oil temperature uniform relatively in the slot compared with that in the deep liquid pool due to the larger ratio of the surface area for copper-oil contact to the slot volume. We find that the neighboring droplets evaporate in three stages: non-coalescing, bouncing, and separating. The radius of neighboring Leidenfrost droplets follows the power law <i>R</i>(<i>t</i>)~(1−<i>t</i>/<i>τ</i>)<sup><i>n</i></sup>, where <i>τ</i> is the characteristic droplet lifetime and <i>n</i> is an exponent factor. Moreover, the diffusion-mediated interaction between the neighboring droplets slows down the evaporation process compared with the action of isolated Leidenfrost droplet and leads to an asymmetric temperature field on the droplet surface, thereby breaking the balance of the forces acting on the droplets. A simple dual-droplet evaporation model is developed which considers four forces acting horizontally on the droplet, namely, the Marangoni force resulting from the non-uniform droplet temperature, the gravity component, the lubrication-propulsion force, and the viscous drag force. Scale analysis shows that the Marangoni force and gravity component dominate dual-droplet evaporation dynamics. In the non-coalescence stage, the gravity component induces the droplets to attract each other, while the vapor film trapped between droplets prevents them from directly contacting. When the droplets turn smaller, the gravity component is insufficient to overcome the Marangoni force. Hence, the droplets separate in the final evaporation stage. Finally, we conclude that the competition between Marangoni force and gravitational force is the origin of the bounce evaporation by comparing the theoretical and experimental transition times at distinct stages. This study contributes to explaining the complex Leidenfrost droplet dynamics and evaporation mechanism.