Abstract
The size and uniformity of micro-droplets are key factors influencing the quality of the molded part by micro-droplet ejecting additive manufacturing technology. In this paper, a piezo-actuated micro-droplet ejection device for generating uniform micro-droplets is studied. The piezoelectric material drives the flexible diaphragm to vibrate and pushes the liquid out of the nozzle and produces micro-droplets. The amplitude of the diaphragm under different control parameters and its influence on the size and uniformity of the generated micro-droplets are investigated by numerical simulation and experiment. The results indicate that the amplitude of the diaphragm is affected by the driving voltage and the piezoelectric frequency and the experimental value of the diaphragm's center point amplitude is less than that of the theoretical calculation value which is mainly influenced by the piezoelectric frequency. The amplitude of the diaphragm will change the pressure inside the nozzle, which leads to the varied sizes of the micro-droplet. When the driving voltage is constant, the diaphragm has the maximum amplitude for the piezoelectric frequency at 10 Hz. As the amplitude of the diaphragm increases, droplets can be generated when the liquid velocity at the orifice and the length of the liquid column increase to a critical value. As the amplitude of the diaphragm continues to increase and the length of the liquid column at the orifice is beyond to a critical value, a satellite micro-droplet is formed. When the amplitude range of the membrane is between 30 $\mu $m and 42 $\mu $m, micro-droplets can be stably formed whose uniformity and size meet the demand well, and the minimum generating micro-droplets size is 339.8 $\mu $m. The maximum change rate of droplet diameter and adjacent two droplets are 0.29% and 2.67% respectively. Results are benefit to promote the uniformity of micro-droplets and will provide a reference for the development of piezoelectric droplet ejection devices.
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