Quasi Two-Dimensional Evaporation and Boiling Under Reduced Pressure

Abstract

To study the washing mechanism of laminated plates with solvent vapor, we have experimentally investigated evaporation dynamics of liquid confined between solid plates under reduced pressure. As the test liquid, we use deionized water and several organic compounds. To visualize the fluid motion in the thin gaps, we adopt glass plates. When a test liquid is sandwiched between a normal (float) glass plate and a ground (sand-blasted) one, vertically incident light passes through the plates without much scattering; once the liquid starts to evaporate, dried rough surface of the ground glass scatters the light and we can monitor the flow pattern. Based on the transmitted light intensity, the whole plate area is categorized into three regions; completely wet, completely dry, and semi-dry one; the last one is supposed to be the state that thin liquid film spreads on the plate. In the case of water, many tiny spots of semi-dry region appear and expand at the initial stage, which is probably cavitation of dissolved gas. In organic liquid cases, evaporation seems to start from the edges of the plates. At a later stage, the semi-dry region expands with complicated branching patterns. In all cases, occasional rapid motions of liquid were observed, which correspond to two-dimensional flash boiling. We also investigated the influence of the control pressure, the surface roughness, and the plate deformation.