Atomization modes for levitating emulsified droplets undergoing phase change

TL;DR

This study investigates the breakup mechanisms of evaporating water-in-oil emulsion droplets under acoustic levitation, revealing how volatility differences influence breakup modes such as bubble growth, sheet breakup, and catastrophic fragmentation.

Contribution

It identifies and characterizes distinct atomization modes of levitating emulsified droplets during phase change, highlighting the role of volatility differential and acoustic resonance effects.

Findings

Three main breakup modes identified: bubble growth, sheet breakup, catastrophic breakup.

Volatility differential among components determines the dominant breakup mechanism.

Faraday instability manifests as wave patterns on droplet surfaces during evaporation.

Abstract

We delineate and examine the distinct breakup modes of evaporating water-in-oil emulsion droplets under acoustic levitation. The emulsion droplets consist of decane/dodecane/tetradecane as oil, while the water concentration is varied from 10% to 30% (v/v). The droplets were heated under different laser irradiation intensities and were observed to exhibit three broad breakup mechanisms, viz., breakup through bubble growth, sheet breakup, and catastrophic breakup. The occurrence of these modes of the breakup is found to be primarily dependent on the volatility differential among the components. Early nucleation in water/decane emulsions results in the growth of vapor bubble, which is characterized by intricate patterns of wave propagation on the droplet surface. The formation of these patterns suggests that the short time scale and length scale of wave patterns is the manifestation of Faraday instability, triggered on the droplet surface by the acoustic field induced resonance. A sheet-like breakup, on the contrary, occurs predominantly in emulsions comprising of components with relatively high volatility difference (water/dodecane emulsions) due to the breakup of an indiscernible small sized bubble. Intense catastrophic breakup occurs for emulsions with significantly vast volatility difference (water/tetradecane emulsions) where the droplet undergoes prompt fragmentation into fine secondary droplets.