Simple scaling laws for the evaporation of droplets pinned on pillars: Transfer-rate- and diffusion-limited regimes

Ruth Hernandez-Perez, José L. García-Cordero, and Juan V. Escobar
Phys. Rev. E 96, 062803 – Published 12 December 2017

Abstract

The evaporation of droplets can give rise to a wide range of interesting phenomena in which the dynamics of the evaporation are crucial. In this work, we find simple scaling laws for the evaporation dynamics of axisymmetric droplets pinned on millimeter-sized pillars. Different laws are found depending on whether evaporation is limited by the diffusion of vapor molecules or by the transfer rate across the liquid-vapor interface. For the diffusion-limited regime, we find that a mass-loss rate equal to 3/7 of that of a free-standing evaporating droplet brings a good balance between simplicity and physical correctness. We also find a scaling law for the evaporation of multicomponent solutions. The scaling laws found are validated against experiments of the evaporation of droplets of (1) water, (2) blood plasma, and (3) a mixture of water and polyethylene glycol, pinned on acrylic pillars of different diameters. These results shed light on the macroscopic dynamics of evaporation on pillars as a first step towards the understanding of other complex phenomena that may be taking place during the evaporation process, such as particle transport and chemical reactions.

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  • Received 30 September 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.96.062803

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Fluid DynamicsPhysics of Living SystemsPolymers & Soft Matter

Authors & Affiliations

Ruth Hernandez-Perez1, José L. García-Cordero1, and Juan V. Escobar2,*

  • 1Unidad Monterrey, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Vía del Conocimiento 201, Parque PIIT, Apodaca, Nuevo León, CP 66628, Mexico
  • 2Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, PO Box 20-364, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico

  • *Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: escobar@fisica.unam.mx

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Vol. 96, Iss. 6 — December 2017

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