Simultaneous measurement of surface tension and viscosity using freely decaying oscillations of acoustically levitated droplets

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Oscillations of small liquid drops around a spherical shape have been of great interest to scientists measuring physical properties such as interfacial tension and viscosity, over the last few decades. A powerful tool for contactless positioning is acoustic levitation, which has been used to simultaneously determine the surface tension and viscosity of liquids at ambient pressure. In order to extend this acoustic levitation measurement method to high pressure systems, the method is first evaluated under ambient pressure. To measure surface tension and viscosity using acoustically levitated oscillating drops, an image analysis method has to be developed and factors which may affect measurement, such as sound field or oscillation amplitude, have to be analyzed. In this paper, we describe the simultaneous measurement of surface tension and viscosity using freely decaying shape oscillations of acoustically levitated droplets of different liquids (silicone oils AK 5 and AK 10, squalane, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, 1-pentanol, 1-hexanol, 1-heptanol, and 1-octanol) in air. These liquids vary in viscosity from 2 to about 30 mPa s. An acoustic levitation system, including an optimized standing wave acoustic levitator and a high-speed camera, was used for this study. An image analysis was performed with a self-written Matlab® code. The frequency of oscillation and the damping constant, required for the determination of surface tension and viscosity, respectively, were calculated from the evolution of the equatorial and polar radii. The results and observations are compared to data from the literature in order to analyze the accuracy of surface tension and viscosity determination, as well as the effect of non-spherical drop shape or amplitude of oscillation on measurement.