The evaporation of concentrated polymer solutions is insensitive to relative humidity

TL;DR

This study confirms that the evaporation rate of concentrated polymer solutions, specifically polyvinyl alcohol, remains unaffected by ambient humidity up to 80%, with deviations at higher humidity due to gelation effects, impacting aerosol transmission understanding.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental validation that polymer solution evaporation is insensitive to humidity up to 80%, and introduces the role of gelation in evaporation rate changes at higher humidity levels.

Findings

Evaporation rate remains constant up to 80% RH.

Gelation causes a decrease in evaporation rate at higher RH.

Early onset of RH-insensitive evaporation suggests a gelled skin formation.

Abstract

A recent theory suggests that the evaporation kinetics of macromolecular solutions is insensitive to the ambient relative humidity (RH) due to the formation of a `polarisation layer' of solutes at the air-solution interface. We confirm this insensitivity up to RH~80% in the evaporation of polyvinyl alcohol solutions from open-ended capillaries. To explain the observed drop in evaporation rate at higher RH, we need to invoke compressive stresses due to interfacial polymer gelation. Moreover, RH-insensitive evaporation sets in earlier than theory predicts, suggesting a further role for a gelled `skin'. We discuss the relevance of these observations for respiratory virus transmission via aerosols.