In this experimental investigation the evaporative behaviour of liquid droplets of both pure fluids and fluids containing nanoparticles was studied. Initial tests were conducted on drops of pure volatile liquids using IR thermography, and the effect of substrate material, drop composition, and substrate temperature was investigated. The effect of the addition of nanoparticles to the liquid drops was then investigated using a contact angle analyser which could record the drop profile in time. The effects of liquid composition, nano-particle composition, nanoparticles concentration, substrate hydrophobicity, and substrate temperature were all studied. Results obtained from IR thermography showed that there exists interfacial temperature instabilities in evaporating volatile drops, the appearance of these fluctuations was found to be dependent on the liquid and substrate in question and are self generated temperature gradients resulting from non-uniform evaporation. A stability analysis was conducted and the results give a good agreement with experimental results. The addition of nanoparticles to a liquid drop was found to alter the evaporative behaviour by enhancing pinning of the drop contact line and preventing the drop radius from shrinking. By manipulating the concentration of the particles suspended in a drop, a stick-slip evaporative process was achieved, leading to rings of particulate material formed upon total evaporation. By varying parameters such as substrate hydrophobicity, nanoparticle concentration, liquid composition, and substrate temperature, many distinct nanoparticle deposit patterns were observed upon total evaporation. It was shown that by varying these parameters, many different patterns could be achieved, and that inside these deposit patterns regular formations such as particulate rings, radial lines, and cellular structures were present.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:563417 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Moffat, John Ross |
| Contributors | Sefiane, Khellil. : Easson, Bill |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5296 |
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