Two-phase microfluidics: thermophysical fundamentals and engineering concepts

Abstract

Thermophysical fundamentals and engineering concepts of the two-phase microfluidic devises based on controlled liquid decay are discussed in this paper. The results of an experimental study of the explosive evaporation at a thin film heater of the MEMS devise in application to thermal inkjet printing are presented. The peculiarities of homogeneous nucleation and bubble growth in the liquid subjected to pulse heating are discussed. Using experimental data a simple equation suitable for predicting the growth rate of a vapor bubble in a non-uniformly superheated liquid was obtained and used to complete a mathematical model of the self-consistent nucleation and vapor bubbles growth in the induced pressure field. The results of numerical calculations according to the proposed model showed good agreement with the experimental data on a time of nucleation and duration of the initial stage of an explosive evaporation of water.