Investigation of liquid metal drop impingement on a liquid metal surface under the influence of a horizontal magnetic field

Abstract

Considering the existence of a horizontal magnetic field, we experimentally investigate the process of a liquid metal drop with high surface tension impacting a film of the same liquid. High-speed photography is adopted here to capture the dynamics of the interaction between the drop and the liquid film. We observe three typical outcomes after drop impact on the film, namely, symmetric crown, asymmetric crown, and prompt splashing, among which the asymmetric crown is first discovered by the present experiments. Moreover, the experimental variables, such as the drop size, impact velocity, initial film thickness, and intensity of the magnetic field, are included to study the three outcomes in detail. For crown formation, the external horizontal magnetic field changes the shape of the crown from symmetric to asymmetric during the crown expansion process, while for prompt splashing, the external horizontal magnetic field promotes splashing from the liquid layer where the drop and the liquid film meet and reduces the critical Weber number where prompt splashing occurs. Therefore, the present experimental results conclusively prove that the external horizontal magnetic field affects the process of liquid metal drop impact on a liquid metal film. Finally, by selecting a typical case, we carried out the direct numerical simulation to calculate the distribution of the magnetic-field-induced Lorentz force inside the droplet after impact, which helps us fully understand the phenomena observed.