Controlled collision of drops in extensional flow using a six-port microfluidic device

TL;DR

This paper introduces a microfluidic method to precisely control and analyze the collision of drops in extensional flow, enabling better understanding of coalescence dynamics through analytical and experimental approaches.

Contribution

The study presents a novel six-port microfluidic device with an analytical control strategy for steering drops to collision, including flow manipulation via a dimensionless parameter.

Findings

Controlled head-on and glancing collisions of drops were successfully performed.

Coalescence time was found to be independent of flow strain rate.

Analytical flow solutions accounted for hydrodynamic interactions between drops.

Abstract

Collision of two dispersed drops in the matrix of suspending liquid is the first step toward coalescence. However, to quantify the rate of coalescence, the configuration of the collision should be definable and the force that induces the collision should be measurable. We present a strategy to use the hydrodynamic force in a six-port microfluidic channel to steer two drops towards collision in the extensional flow. By implementing the analytical solution in the control loop, the flow rates that are required to steer the drops toward their respective target points can be determined using a single control parameter. This parameter, $ \chi^{*} $, is a dimensionless time scale that can manipulate the drops in one of the two manners: 1) by engaging all six ports to create a flow field with two stagnation points ($ \chi^{*}\ll1 $), or 2) by deactivating some of the ports and creating a linear extensional flow through the remaining active ports ($ \chi^{*}\gg1 $). We determine specific orientations that are more suitable for the collision of Hele-Shaw drops in the six-port microfluidic channel. Based on the above strategy, we design and perform controlled head-on and glancing collisions for ~100 $ \mu $m radius Hele-Shaw perfluorodecalin drops in silicone oil. The analytical solution of the flow field accounting for the perturbation of the flow due to the hydrodynamic interactions between the Hele-Shaw drops was developed using the conformal mapping technique. Coalescence time between two Hele-Shaw drops undergoing a head-on collision in a dimpled mode was found to be independent of the strain rate of the hydrodynamic flow.