156 research outputs found
Impalement transitions in droplets impacting microstructured superhydrophobic surfaces
Liquid droplets impacting a superhydrophobic surface decorated with
micro-scale posts often bounce off the surface. However, by decreasing the
impact velocity droplets may land on the surface in a fakir state, and by
increasing it posts may impale droplets that are then stuck on the surface. We
use a two-phase lattice-Boltzmann model to simulate droplet impact on
superhydrophobic surfaces, and show that it may result in a fakir state also
for reasonable high impact velocities. This happens more easily if the surface
is made more hydrophobic or the post height is increased, thereby making the
impaled state energetically less favourable.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Europhysics Letter
Spontaneous Breakdown of Superhydrophobicity
In some cases water droplets can completely wet micro-structured
superhydrophobic surfaces. The {\it dynamics} of this rapid process is analyzed
by ultra-high-speed imaging. Depending on the scales of the micro-structure,
the wetting fronts propagate smoothly and circularly or -- more interestingly
-- in a {\it stepwise} manner, leading to a growing {\it square-shaped} wetted
area: entering a new row perpendicular to the direction of front propagation
takes milliseconds, whereas once this has happened, the row itself fills in
microseconds ({\it ``zipping''})Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
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