Wavelength and depth of ribbing in roll coating and its elimination

Abstract

AbstractExperiment has been made on ribbing induced on a film coated over a roll surface by a two‐roll system: one roll rotated with a speed and the other fixed or rotated with relatively different speeds. The two rolls have the same diameters and are placed parallel with each other by keeping a gap. Test fluids are Newtonian (glycerin/water) and viscoelastic [polyacrylamide (Separan AP30)/glycerin/water] solutions. Wavelength and depth of ribbing are measured by a newly developed technique utilizing an image of a straight bar placed above the roll and reflected on the ribbing film surface. Nondimensionalized wavelength is correlated with capillary number for Newtonian liquids, but higher for dilute Separan solutions and lower for nondilute Separan solutions than for Newtonian liquids. The depth of ribbing increases for dilute Separan solutions with nearly the same value for nondilute Separan solutions as those for Newtonian liquid. This behavior observed for the ribbing seems to have some relation to the existence of a line of vortices that occurs visibly for nondilute Separan solutions in the entrance region of the gap between the rolls. Increase in the ratio of the velocities of two rolls has an effect of increasing both the wavelength and depth of ribbing for glycerine and nondilute Separan solutions, but it has the effect of decreasing them for dilute Separan solutions. Addition of Separan in glycerine solution promotes the generation of ribbing.A string spanned near over the gap to touch the surface of the liquid pool between the gap has the effect of eliminating the ribbing. This is successful in various combinations between the speeds of the two rolls and the diameters of the string.