Local Film Thickness Research Articles

Measurement of locally heated liquid film thickness by a double-fiber optical probe

An experimental investigation of thermocapillary deformations in a film of 10% ethyl alcohol solution in water, flowing down a plate with a heater of length 6.7 mm and width 68 mm, is performed. Heating of the film results in the formation of a horizontal liquid bump at the top edge of the heater. On the heater the flow divides into vertical rivulets with a thin film between them. Film deformations in the bump and the thin film between the rivulets are investigated. Local film thickness is measured by means of a double-fiber optical probe. The method is based on the dependence of the intensity of reflected light on the distance between the probe and the reflecting surface. The measurement results are compared to those previously obtained using the schlieren method. The experiment is controlled by three parameters. They are, with their respective values, the plate inclination angle (4–90°), the Reynolds number (0.15–62) and the heat flux density (0–4.5 W/cm2).

Liquid Flow on Structured Packing: CFD Simulation and Experimental Study

AbstractA CFD model of the two‐phase countercurrent flow in the geometry of the plate‐type structured packing Mellapak 250.Y was built, tested and verified. The model was applied to determine the effect of liquid and gas flow rates and physicochemical properties of the flowing liquids on the interfacial area formed on structured packing. The CFD model allowed us to determine the minimum liquid flow rate at which an unbroken liquid film was observed on the packing surface. The simulations confirmed that with an increase of the wetting rate the surface of the packing covered with a liquid film increased until the surface was totally covered up, while further slight changes of an interfacial area were the result of wave formation. The effect of gas load (F factor) on the film surface was in the range of a calculation error. Results of the CFD simulation allow us to predict the stages of film formation during liquid flow, to follow local velocity oscillations, film thickness and velocity profiles of phases.

Influence of Local Heat Development on Film Thickness for Anodizing Aluminum in Sulfuric Acid

Joule heating of the oxide-covered aluminum electrode is the major heat source during anodizing, and the extent of heat removal is dependent on the electrolyte flow i.e., convection. For various galvanostatic and potentiostatic anodizing conditions, at different bulk electrolyte temperatures it was found that when the convection heat transfer is not uniform along the electrode surface, i.e., in a wall-jet electrode reactor, a local temperature distribution is established. Due to this nonuniform temperature, the anodic film exhibits a thickness distribution. Further, at higher current densities or lower bulk electrolyte temperatures, anomalous anodizing behavior occurs under certain galvanostatic conditions, associated with spots of increased oxide thickness and high-temperature peaks. By associating the local film thickness to the local temperature distribution, it was found that the higher the local temperature, the greater the local film thickness, implying a higher local oxidation current. This relation is explained by considering thermal enhancement of the field-assisted oxide dissolution at the pore bases, which necessitates a local current density rise to maintain the local anodizing equilibrium. Using transmission electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and capacitance measurements, the previous was confirmed from measurement of an unchanged barrier layer thickness on the anodized aluminum specimen. © 2003 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.

The effect of electric fields on the rupture of thin viscous films by van der Waals forces

We examine the stability of a thin two-dimensional incompressible liquid film when an electric field is applied in a direction parallel to the initially flat bounding fluid interfaces, and study the competition between surface tension, van der Waals, viscous, and electrically induced forces. The film is assumed to be sufficiently thin, and the surface tension and electrically induced forces are large enough that gravity can be ignored to the leading order. We analyze the nonlinear stability of the flow by deriving and numerically solving a set of nonlinear evolution equations for the local film thickness and the horizontal velocity. We find that the electric field forces enhance the stability of the flow and can remove rupture. If rupture occurs then the form of the singularity, to leading order, is that found in the absence of an electric field.

Influence of Heat Transfer on DC-anodizing of Aluminium in Sulphuric Acid

SUMMARYHeat is generated during anodizing of aluminium, leading to macroscopic anodic film thickness variations and to local burning effects. The precise reasons for this non-uniform film behaviour have yet to be elucidated. In the present study, conventional anodizing in sulphuric acid has been investigated in a wall-jet electrode reactor, enabling introduction of controlled heat transfer variations. An increased local film thickness is associated with an increased local electrode temperature. It was found that the higher the local temperature, the greater the local film thickness. This is explained by considering thermal enhancement of the field-assisted oxide dissolution at the pore bases, which necessitates a local current density rise to maintain the local anodizing equilibrium. Local cyclic voltammetry and capacitance measurements reveal an unchanged barrier layer thickness on the anodized aluminium specimen, thus confirming the previous.

Microscopic observations of clathrate-hydrate films formed at liquid/liquid interfaces. II. Film thickness in steady-water flow

A series of experiments were carried out to measure, with the aid of direct observations through a high-resolution optical microscope, the local thickness of a ring-shaped hydrate film formed over the surface of each discoid drop of HCFC-141b (CH 3CCl 2F) held stationary in a narrow liquid-water channel confined by two transparent, parallel plates, while the experimental system was controlled at a temperature below the hydrate/liquid-water/liquid-HCFC-141b equilibrium temperature, T tri, at atmospheric pressure. It was revealed that the thickness may be significantly different from place to place over the same hydrate film and that the thickness at each location decreases with an increase in the water flow rate and with a temperature rise. To clarify the dependency of the local film thickness thus measured on the convective mass transfer of the hydrate-guest substance from the film surface to the water flow, we performed numerical simulations of the convective mass transfer and also chromatographic measurements of the solubility of HCFC-141b in liquid water so that we could predict the local mass transfer coefficient and the mass flux of the hydrate guest, HCFC-141b, at any location along the hydrate-film/liquid-water interface. Plotting the film-thickness data obtained at each temperature level against relevant predictions of the mass transfer coefficient or the mass flux, we found the film thickness to be nearly inversely proportional to the mass transfer coefficient or the mass flux. This finding supports the idea that the film thickness is determined by the balance between the rate of hydrate-crystal dissociation induced by the aforementioned convective mass transfer and the rate of hydrate-crystal formation depending on the liquid-water permeation into the hydrate film.

The flow characteristics of an upward gas‐liquid two‐phase flow in a vertical tube with a wire coil: Part 2. Effect on void fraction and liquid film thickness

AbstractAn experimental study has been carried out to clarify the characteristics of the void fraction and the liquid film thickness of the air‐water two‐phase flow in vertical tubes of 25‐mm inside diameter with wire coils of varying wire diameter and pitch. The flow pattern in the experiment on the average void fraction and the local void fraction distribution in cross section was a bubble flow, and the liquid film thickness was in the region of semiannular and annular flows. It is clarified from these experiments that the average void fraction in tubes with wire coils is lower than that in a smooth tube and decreases with the wire diameter owing to the centrifugal force of the swirl flow which concentrates bubbles at the center of the tube, that the local liquid film thickness becomes more uniform with a decrease in the pitch of the wire coil, and that the liquid film becomes thicker after the passage through the wire coil with an increase in the wire diameter. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(8): 652–664, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.10067

Instability of thin liquid films by density variations: a new mechanism that mimics spinodal dewetting.

Based on the linear stability analysis and nonlinear simulations, conditions are established under which instability and dewetting of a thin liquid film can be engendered solely by the density variations (for example, due to confinement, layering, defects, and restructuring) related to changes in the local film thickness. An increase in the density with the increasing film thickness can stabilize a thermodynamically unstable film, and, equally interesting, a decrease in the density with increasing film thickness can render a thermodynamically stable film unstable. Morphological characteristics of this novel density variation induced instability closely resemble the well-known spinodal dewetting.

Film Thickness and Wave Velocity Measurements in a Vertical Duct

This paper describes the experimental investigation of an upward annular air-water flow in a duct with a 6.35 mm by 63.5 mm rectangular cross section. The test section was instrumented to measure the film thickness and the interfacial wave velocity. Flush-wire electrical conductivity probes were used to obtain local film thickness measurement with a spatial resolution of 200 μm or better and a temporal resolution greater than 2 kHz. Measurements of the base films range from 50 μm to ∼325 μm (2% to 10% of half-channel thickness). Statistical analysis shows that the standard deviation of the film thickness is a good measure of the film roughness. The relative roughness and the nondimensional film thickness are correlated as functions of the phasic Reynolds number ratio, R=Rel0.15/Reg0.3. It is found that at R=0.15, the relative roughness is a maximum. A simple model developed by matching the interfacial shear in the two fluids, predicts the wave velocity data very well.

Dynamics of a vertically falling film in the presence of a first-order chemical reaction

The evolution of a vertically falling film in the presence of a simple first-order (exothermic or endothermic) chemical reaction is considered. The heat of reaction sets up surface tension gradients that induce thermocapillary stresses on the free-surface, thus affecting the evolution of the film. By using a long-wave expansion of the equations of motion and associated boundary conditions, we derive a nonlinear partial differential equation of the evolution type for the local film thickness. We demonstrate that, when the surface tension is an increasing function of temperature an exothermic reaction has a stabilizing effect on the free surface while an endothermic reaction is destabilizing. We construct bifurcation diagrams for permanent solitary waves and show that, in all cases the solution branches exhibit limit points and multiplicity with two branches, a lower branch and an upper branch. Time-dependent computations of the free-surface evolution equation show that the system always approaches a train of coherent structures that resemble the lower branch solitary waves. We also examine the absorption characteristics through the interface and we demonstrate that an endothermic reaction enhances absorption and mass transport. The opposite is true for an exothermic reaction.

Combined Free and Forced Convection Film Condensation on a Finite-Size Horizontal Wavy Plate

Abstract Mixed-convection film condensation with downward flowing vapors onto a finite-size horizontal wavy plate is studied by a simple mathematical model and the spline alternating-direction implicit method. Effects of the wavy geometry, the interfacial vapor shear and the pressure gradient on the local condensate film thickness and the heat transfer characteristics have been studied independently. Results show that the pressure gradient tends to increase the heat transfer rate and to decrease the influence of the wavy amplitude. The appropriate wave number which can enhance the maximum condensation heat transfer rate is found in the neighborhood of lunder all circumstances.

P‐106: Numerical Analysis of Evaporated Film Thickness in Vacuum Deposition Process for Small Molecule OLED

AbstractNumerical analysis has been performed to calculate optimum shape of shield plate for uniform film thickness distribution during vacuum deposition process. Local film thickness distribution considering shadow effect due to shadow mask has also been calculated. Developed numerical techniques can help to increase quality of light emitting by optimization of process condition.

A Bulk Flow Model for Off-Centered Honeycomb Gas Seals

A computational analysis for prediction of the static and dynamic forced performance of gas honeycomb seals at off-centered rotor conditions follows. The bulk-flow analysis, similar to the two-control volume flow model of Kleynhans and Childs (1997, “The Acoustic Influence of Cell Depth on the Rotordynamic Characteristics of Smooth-Rotor/Honeycomb-Stator Annular Gas Seals,” ASME J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 119, pp. 949–957), is brought without loss of generality into a single-control volume model, thus simplifying the computational process. The formulation accommodates the honeycomb effective cell depth, and existing software for annular pressure seals and is easily upgraded for damper seal analysis. An analytical perturbation method for derivation of zeroth- and first-order flow fields renders the seal equilibrium response and frequency-dependent dynamic force impedances, respectively. Numerical predictions for a centered straight-bore honeycomb gas seal shows good agreement with experimentally identified impedances, hence validating the model and confirming the paramount influence of excitation frequency on the rotordynamic force coefficients of honeycomb seals. The effect of rotor eccentricity on the static and dynamic forced response of a smooth annular seal and a honeycomb seal is evaluated for characteristic pressure differentials and rotor speeds. Leakage for the two seal types increases slightly as the rotor eccentricity increases. Rotor off-centering has a pronounced nonlinear effect on the predicted (and experimentally verified) dynamic force coefficients for smooth seals. However, in honeycomb gas seals, even large rotor center excursions do not sensibly affect the effective local film thickness, maintaining the flow azimuthal symmetry. The current model and predictions thus increase confidence in honeycomb seal design, operating performance, and reliability in actual applications.

Dynamics and rupture of planar electrified liquid sheets

We investigate the stability of a thin two-dimensional liquid film when a uniform electric field is applied in a direction parallel to the initially flat bounding fluid interfaces. We consider the distinct physical effects of surface tension and electrically induced forces for an inviscid, incompressible nonconducting fluid. The film is assumed to be thin enough and the surface forces large enough that gravity can be ignored to leading order. Our aim is to analyze the nonlinear stability of the flow. We achieve this by deriving a set of nonlinear evolution equations for the local film thickness and local horizontal velocity. The equations are valid for waves which are long compared to the average film thickness and for symmetrical interfacial perturbations. The electric field effects enter nonlocally and the resulting system contains a combination of terms which are reminiscent of the Kortweg–de-Vries and the Benjamin–Ono equations. Periodic traveling waves are calculated and their behavior studied as the electric field increases. Classes of multimodal solutions of arbitrarily small period are constructed numerically and it is shown that these are unstable to long wave modulational instabilities. The instabilities are found to lead to film rupture. We present extensive simulations that show that the presence of the electric field causes a nonlinear stabilization of the flow in that it delays singularity (rupture) formation.

Double textured cylindrical block copolymer domains via directional solidification on a topographically patterned substrate

Directional solidification of cylinder forming block copolymer films confined between a directionally crystallizing solvent (benzoic acid) and a topographically patterned silicon substrate imparts a particular orientation to the block copolymer microdomains that is dependent of the solidification direction and the local film thickness. The substrate features (30 nm high, 2μm wide square mesas on a 4μm sq lattice) shape the film morphology by periodically modulating the local film thickness. Thicker regions between substrate features (plateaus) exhibit in-plane cylinders aligned in the crystallization direction and thinner regions over the substrate features (mesas) display vertically aligned cylindrical domains. This approach is a simple and general technique for engineering an intended domain orientation in specific areas of a block copolymer film. Development of this method for nanolithographic applications is demonstrated through oxygen plasma reactive ion etching of the patterned cylindrical domains.

Flow dynamics of an intensively evaporating wave film of a liquid

Experimental results on the behavior of a laminar–wave film of liquid nitrogen evaporating intensively under conditions of a gravitational flow on a locally heated vertical surface are described. It was found that certain heat fluxes change significantly the shape of the residual layer and increase the relative amplitude of large waves. For the first time, data are obtained on the change in the probability density of the local film thickness as a function of the heat–flux density within the range of Reynolds numbers from 32 to 103. The effect of the heat–flux density on the phase velocity and shape of large waves is shown. Heat–flux densities at which “dry” spots arise were determined as functions of the streamwise coordinate of the wave film of the saturated liquid.

A computer model of mixed lubrication in point contacts

A numerical model of mixed lubrication is presented in this paper. The idea introduced here is that asperity contact may be viewed as a result of a continuous decrease in film thickness, so that the transition between contact and non-contact is continuous and the same mathematical model should work for both regions. The pressure over the thin films is assumed to obey the Reynolds equation, and the solution of the equation, under the condition of h→0, is expected to be the same as that predicted by the theory of elasticity. To achieve convergent and stable solutions, the left-hand side terms of the Reynolds equation are switched off when the local film thickness approaches zero, leading to a reduced Reynolds equation. Pressure distributions over the entire computation domain are thus obtained through solving a unified equation system without identifying hydrodynamic or asperity contact regions. Computations were conducted for several example cases and results show that convergent solutions are achievable on different types of roughness, over a wide range of λ ratios (0.01 to infinity), and for different slide-to-roll ratios (0.0–2.0).

Morphology and composition of layered anodic films on InP

The composition and morphology of the double-layered anodic film formed at 5 mA cm−2 on InP in aqueous sodium tungstate electrolyte is examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and nuclear reaction analysis. The outer layer is composed mainly of In2O3 of relatively low atomic density, about 50% that of crystalline In2O3. The low density is probably due partly to the presence of numerous cavities in the layer, revealed by TEM and AFM. The inner layer is enriched in phosphorus relative to the composition of the substrate, with a P : In atomic ratio of about 2.17. From the measured ratio of phosphorus to indium, the composition of the inner layer can be expressed as either In2O3.2.17P2O5 or In(PO3)2.17. The average nm V−1 ratio is 1.99 ± 0.07. However, there are wide variations of the local film thickness, associated with roughness at the substrate/film and film/electrolyte interfaces and local variability in the ionic current density due to cavities in the film. The film forms with a small loss of indium species to the electrolyte. The outer layer represents about 32% of the total thickness of a film formed at 100% efficiency.

Tunable single phase-shifted and superstructure gratings using microfabricated on-fiber thin film heaters

Tunable optical filters have applications in wavelength-division multiplexing, optical sensing, and fiber lasers. Fiber gratings that are tuned by resistive Joule heating of a thin metal film deposited onto the fiber are attractive because of their compactness, low power consumption, and controllable optical characteristics. In particular, the small effective axial thermal diffusion lengths in these systems allow complex heating profiles to be defined simply by controlling the local film thickness. In this paper, we demonstrate devices with single and multiple thermally actuated phase-shifted elements. The measured reflection spectra of these devices compare favorably with simulations based on a one-dimensional model of heat flow and confirm the heat flow characteristics expected from theory.

Effect of surfactants on the stability of films between two colliding small bubbles

The stability of partially mobile drainage thin liquid film formed between two slightly deformed approaching bubbles or drops is studied. The intervening film is assumed to be thermodynamically unstable. The material properties of the interfaces (surface viscosity, Gibbs elasticity, surface and bulk diffusion) are taken into account. To examine the stability of the thin film we consider the coupling between the drainage and the disturbance flows. The velocity and pressure distributions due to the drainage flow are obtained by using the lubrication approximation. The disturbance flow is examined by imposing small perturbations on the film interfaces and liquid flow. The long wave approximation is applied. We solved the linear problem for the evolution of the fluctuations in the local film thickness, interfacial velocity and pressure. The linear stability analysis of the gap region allows us to calculate the critical thickness, at which the system becomes unstable. Quantitative explanation of the following effects is proposed, (i) the increase of critical thickness with the increase of the interfacial mobility; (ii) the role of surface viscosity, compared with that of the Gibbs elasticity; (iii) the significant destabilization of the gap region with the decreasing droplet radius in the case of buoyancy driven motion. The analytical expressions for critical thickness in the case of negligible surface viscosity and tangentially immobile interfaces are presented.