The coalescence and oscillation of eutectic gallium indium alloy droplets

Abstract

Gallium-based liquid metal droplets have excellent deformation performance, and their oscillation has huge potential in oscillator and organ-on-chip research. At present, the oscillation of gallium-based liquid metal droplets controlled by external energy (such as the application of electric fields and chemical reactions) has been thoroughly studied, while there are vacancies in the study of the oscillation due to coalescence of droplets without external energy input. A numerical simulation study on the oscillation process after the coalescence of two and three eutectic gallium indium alloy droplets is conducted. The degree of deformation of the droplet is described by the dimensionless length change in the symmetry axis direction of the line connecting the centers of the initial droplets in the top view, that is, in the y direction. The oscillation curve of the droplet is obtained by the fitting method. The results show that the oscillation of coalesced droplets has obvious periodicity and damping attenuation characteristics, and increasing the number of droplets or reducing the droplet radius will increase the damping coefficient. Furthermore, the ratio of droplet sizes and their initial distribution have an impact on the variations in kinetic energy of the three droplets in the y direction, thereby influencing the deformation of the droplets. This research enriches the theory of gallium-based liquid metal droplet deformation and plays a significant role in guiding the application of droplet oscillation in the fields of micromixers and measuring the physical parameters of solutions.