Instability development of a viscous liquid drop impacting a smooth substrate

Abstract

We study the instability development during a viscous liquid drop impacting a smooth substrate, using high speed photography. The onset time of the instability highly depends on the surrounding air pressure and the liquid viscosity: it decreases with air pressure with the power of minus two, and increases linearly with the liquid viscosity. From the real-time dynamics measurements, we construct a model which compares the destabilizing stress from air with the stabilizing stress from liquid viscosity. Under this model, our experimental results indicate that at the instability onset time, the two stresses balance each other. This model also illustrates the different mechanisms for the inviscid and viscous regimes previously observed: the inviscid regime is stabilized by the surface tension and the viscous regime is stabilized by the liquid viscosity.

4 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Drop Splashing on a Dry Smooth Surface
• Drop impact upon micro- and nanostructured superhydrophobic surfaces
• Liquid drop splashing on smooth, rough and textured surfaces
• Impact of a Viscous Liquid Drop

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Kelvin Helmholtz instability in an ultrathin air film causes drop splashing on smooth surfaces
• The role of drop shape in impact and splash
• Length and time scales of a liquid drop impact and penetration into a granular layer
• On Liquid Viscosity Effects on Droplet Splash and Receding Breakup on a Smooth Solid Surface at Atmospheric Pressure
• Crown rupture during droplet impact on a dry smooth surface at increased pressure