Solidification of liquid metal drops during impact

Abstract

Hot liquid metal drops impacting onto a cold substrate solidify during their subsequent spreading. Here we experimentally study the influence of solidification on the outcome of an impact event. Liquid tin drops are impacted onto sapphire substrates of varying temperature. The impact is visualised both from the side and from below, which provides a unique view on the solidification process. During spreading an intriguing pattern of radial ligaments rapidly solidifies from the centre of the drop. This pattern determines the late-time morphology of the splat. A quantitative analysis of the drop spreading and ligament formation is supported by scaling arguments. Finally, a phase diagram for drop bouncing, deposition and splashing as a function of substrate temperature and impact velocity is provided.

References in corpus (2)

• Drop Splashing on a Dry Smooth Surface
• Frozen impacted drop: From fragmentation to hierarchical crack patterns

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Fast-freezing kinetics inside a droplet impacting on a cold surface
• The role of drop shape in impact and splash
• Universal aspects of droplet spreading dynamics in Newtonian and non-Newtonian Fluids
• Frozen Patterns of Impacted Droplets: From Conical Tips to Toroidal Shapes
• Freezing-damped impact of a water drop
• Contact Line Catch Up by Growing Ice Crystals
• Pattern formation during the impact of a partially-frozen binary droplet on a cold surface
• Increased solidification delays fragmentation and suppresses rebound of impacting drops
• Cold granular targets slow the bulk freezing of an impacting droplet
• Flat-cupped transition in freezing drop impacts