Controlling the Motion of Ferrofluid Droplets Using Surface Tension Gradients and Magnetoviscous Pinning.

This work demonstrates the controlled motion and stopping of individual ferrofluid droplets due to a surface tension gradient and a uniform magnetic field. The surface tension gradients are created by patterning hydrophilic aluminum regions, shaped as wedges, on a hydrophobic copper surface. This pattern facilitates the spontaneous motion of water-based ferrofluid droplets down the length of the wedge toward the more hydrophilic aluminum end due to a net capillarity force created by the underlying surface wettability gradient. We observed that applying a magnetic field parallel to the surface tension gradient direction has little or no effect on the droplet's motion, while a moderate perpendicular magnetic field can stop the motion altogether effectively "pinning" the droplet. In the absence of the surface tension gradient, droplets elongate in the presence of a parallel field but do not travel. This control of the motion of individual droplets might lend itself to some biomedical and lab-on-a-chip applications. The directional dependence of the magnetoviscosity observed in this work is believed to be the consequence of the formation of nanoparticle chains in the fluid due to the existence of a minority of relatively larger magnetic particles.

Topography-based surface tension gradients to facilitate water droplet movement on laser-etched copper substrates.

This paper describes a method for creating a topography-based gradient on a metallic surface to help mitigate problems associated with condensate retention. The gradient was designed to promote water droplet migration toward a specified region on the surface which would serve as the primary conduit for drainage using only the roughness of the surface to facilitate the movement of the droplets. In this work, parallel microchannels having a fixed land width but variable spacing were etched into copper substrates to create a surface tension gradient along the surface of the copper. The surfaces were fabricated using a 355 nm Nd:YVO4 laser system and then characterized using spray testing techniques and water droplet (2-10 µL) injection via microsyringe. The distances that individual droplets traveled on the gradient surface were also measured using a goniometer and CCD camera and were found to be between 0.5 and 1.5 mm for surfaces in a horizontal orientation. Droplet movement was spontaneous and did not require the use of chemical coatings. The theoretical design and construction of surface tension gradients were also explored in this work by calculating the minimum gradient needed for droplet movement on a horizontal surface using Wenzel's model of wetting. The results of this study suggest that microstructural patterning could be used to help reduce condensate retention on metallic fins such as those used in heat exchangers in heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R) applications.

Methodology for calculating the volume of condensate droplets on topographically modified, microgrooved surfaces.

Liquid droplets on micropatterned surfaces consisting of parallel grooves tens of micrometers in width and depth are considered, and a method for calculating the droplet volume on these surfaces is presented. This model, which utilizes the elongated and parallel-sided nature of droplets condensed on these microgrooved surfaces, requires inputs from two droplet images at ϕ = 0° and ϕ = 90°--namely, the droplet major axis, minor axis, height, and two contact angles. In this method, a circular cross-sectional area is extruded the length of the droplet where the chord of the extruded circle is fixed by the width of the droplet. The maximum apparent contact angle is assumed to occur along the side of the droplet because of the surface energy barrier to wetting imposed by the grooves--a behavior that was observed experimentally. When applied to water droplets condensed onto a microgrooved aluminum surface, this method was shown to calculate the actual droplet volume to within 10% for 88% of the droplets analyzed. This method is useful for estimating the volume of retained droplets on topographically modified, anisotropic surfaces where both heat and mass transfer occur and the surface microchannels are aligned parallel to gravity to assist in condensate drainage.

Wetting phenomena on micro-grooved aluminum surfaces and modeling of the critical droplet size.

The behavior of water droplets on aluminum surfaces with parallel grooves tens of microns in width and depth is considered, and a mechanistic model is developed for predicting the critical droplet size-droplets at incipient sliding due to gravity. The critical droplet size is nearly 50% smaller on micro-grooved surfaces than on the same surface without micro-grooves. The application of existing models fails to predict this behavior, and a new model based on empiricism is developed. The new model provides reasonable predictions of the critical droplet size for a given inclination angle, advancing contact angle, and maximum contact angle. When the grooves are aligned parallel to gravity, the maximum apparent contact angle does not occur at the advancing front but rather along the side of the droplet because of contact-line pinning. Droplets on these surfaces are elongated and possess a parallel-sided base contour shape. Novel data are provided for droplets in a Wenzel state, a Cassie-Baxter state, and combined state on micro-grooved surfaces, and the ability of the empirical model to handle these variations is explored. These findings may be important to a broad range of engineering applications.