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Measurement of contact angle in a clearance-fit pin-loaded hole
A technique which measures load-contact variation in a clearance-fit, pin-loaded hole is presented in detail. A steel instrumented pin, which activates a make-or-break electrical circuit in the pin-hole contact region, was inserted into one aluminum and one polycarbonate specimen. The resulting load-contact variations are indicated schematically. The ability to accurately determine the arc of contact at any load was crucial to this measurement. It is noted that this simple experimental technique is applicable to both conducting and nonconducting materials.
Measurement of contact angles and evaluation of surface coatings
Stable surface treatments for 301 stainless steel, copper, and aluminum alloy contact with liquids
An Analysis of the Effect of Contact Angle on the Liquid Metal Infusion into a Packed Bed
Not provided.
Contact angle hysteresis: A new paradigm?
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The effect of surface contamination on contact angles and surface potentials Summary report
Surface contamination effects on behavior of liquids in space vehicle tanks at zero gravity
Effect of contact angle on rolling-element fatigue life with a fluorinated ether lubricant at a cryogenic temperature of 170 K /305 deg R/
Test of rolling element fatigue life with fluorinated ether lubricant at cryogenic temperature using five ball fatigue tester
Contact Angle Influence on Geysering Jets in Microgravity Investigated
Microgravity poses many challenges to the designer of spacecraft tanks. Chief among these are the lack of phase separation and the need to supply vapor-free liquid or liquid-free vapor to the spacecraft processes that require fluid. One of the principal problems of phase separation is the creation of liquid jets. A jet can be created by liquid filling, settling of the fluid to one end of the tank, or even closing a valve to stop the liquid flow. Anyone who has seen a fountain knows that jets occur in normal gravity also. However, in normal gravity, the gravity controls and restricts the jet flow. In microgravity, with gravity largely absent, surface tension forces must be used to contain jets. To model this phenomenon, a numerical method that tracks the fluid motion and the surface tension forces is required. Jacqmin has developed a phase model that converts the discrete surface tension force into a barrier function that peaks at the free surface and decays rapidly away. Previous attempts at this formulation were criticized for smearing the interface. This can be overcome by sharpening the phase function, double gridding the fluid function, and using a higher-order solution for the fluid function. The solution of this equation can be rewritten as two coupled Poisson equations that also include the velocity.
Observed Variation of CO2-Brine Contact Angles on Sandstone
Presented by LRST at the International Pittsburgh Coal Conference, September 8-11, 2020, 9/11
Ion irradiation effects on Cr-coated zircaloy-4 surface wettability and pool boiling critical heat flux.
The concept of coating the currently used nuclear fuel cladding (zirconium-based alloy, typically Zircaloy-4 or Zirc-4) with an oxidation preventive layer is a progressing Accident tolerant Fuel (ATF) candidate alloys. The coated Zirc-4-based alloys could be a solution to suppress undesirable fast reaction kinetics with high-temperature steam. Zirc-4 has been the most preferred cladding material in pressurized water reactors (PWRs). Chromium (Cr) based alloys as a coating material provides excellent corrosion protection and good strength and wear resistance. In this paper, we present the surface wettability measurements and pool boiling Critical Heat Flux (CHF) for Cr-coated Zirc-4 claddings pre- and post-exposure to an ion irradiation environment. The wettability measurements, including static contact angle (contact angle, θ) and average surface roughness (surface roughness, Ra), are introduced for samples of different coating thicknesses (5–30 μm thick). The coatings fabricated by the cold spray of Cr-Al particles to 10 mm × 10 mm × 1.95 mm Zirc-4 substrates. Post fabrication, a Pilgering (cold rolling) process, was applied to finalize the coating thickness and resulted in a significant reduction in surface roughness of initially fabricated rough surfaces. The process produced three distinguished samples 5-μm unpolished (as machined), 5-μm, and 30-μm polished (cold rolled). The measurements are presented for the three surfaces and bare Zirc-4 as a baseline surface. The contact angle analyses were implemented in theoretical models from the literature to predict pool boiling CHF. Pool boiling experiments were conducted to measure the pool boiling CHF values and compare them to the predicted values. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis was performed to characterize the surfaces for better understanding and interpreting the results. The SEM images showed localized surface damage due to ion irradiation. No recognized change in the measured surface roughness due to ion irradiation. The contact angles of irradiated Cr-coated surfaces are consistently higher (10°) than pre-irradiated surfaces. Decreasing the Cr-coating layer thickness resulted in lower contact angle pre- and post- ion irradiation. The predicted pool boiling CHF using the Kandlikar model is in good agreement with the experimentally measured CHF values within ±12% for all samples.
The determination of equivalent bearing loading for the BSMT that simulate SSME high pressure oxidizer turbopump conditions using the SHABERTH/SINDA computer programs
The MSFC bearing seal material tester (BSMT) can be used to evaluate the SSME high pressure oxygen turbopump (HPOTP) bearing performance. The four HPOTP bearings have both an imposed radial and axial load. These radial and axial loads are caused by the HPOTP's shaft, main impeller, preburner impeller, turbine and by the LOX coolant flow through the bearings, respectively. These loads coupled with bearing geometry and operating speed can define bearing contact angle, contact Hertz stress, and heat generation rates. The BSMT has the capability of operating at HPOTP shaft speeds, provide proper coolant flowrates but can only apply an axial load. Due to the inability to operate the bearings in the BSMT with an applied radial load, it is important to develop an equivalency between the applied axial loads and the actual HPOTP loadings. A shaft-bearing-thermal computer code (SHABERTH/SINDA) is used to simulate the BSMT bearing-shaft geometry and thermal-fluid operating conditions.
Motion of Drops on Surfaces with Wettability Gradients
A liquid drop present on a solid surface can move because of a gradient in wettability along the surface, as manifested by a gradient in the contact angle. The contact angle at a given point on the contact line between a solid and a liquid in a gaseous medium is the angle between the tangent planes to the liquid and the solid surfaces at that point and is measured within the liquid side, by convention. The motion of the drop occurs in the direction of increasing wettability. The cause of the motion is the net force exerted on the drop by the solid surface because of the variation of the contact angle around the periphery. This force causes acceleration of an initially stationary drop, and leads to its motion in the direction of decreasing contact angle. The nature of the motion is determined by the balance between the motivating force and the resisting hydrodynamic force from the solid surface and the surrounding gaseous medium. A wettability gradient can be chemically induced as shown by Chaudhury and Whitesides who provided unambiguous experimental evidence that drops can move in such gradients. The phenomenon can be important in heat transfer applications in low gravity, such as when condensation occurs on a surface. Daniel et al have demonstrated that the velocity of a drop on a surface due to a wettability gradient in the presence of condensation can be more than two orders of magnitude larger than that observed in the absence of condensation. In the present research program, we have begun to study the motion of a drop in a wettability gradient systematically using a model system. Our initial efforts will be restricted to a system in which no condensation occurs. The experiments are performed as follows. First, a rectangular strip of approximate dimensions 10 x 20 mm is cut out of a silicon wafer. The strip is cleaned thoroughly and its surface is exposed to the vapor from an alkylchlorosilane for a period lasting between one and two minutes inside a desiccator. This is done using an approximate line source of the vapor in the form of a string soaked in the alkylchlorosilane. Ordinarily, many fluids, including water, wet the surface of silicon quite well. This means that the contact angle is small. But the silanized surface resists wetting, with contact angles that are as large as 100 degs. Therefore, a gradient of wettability is formed on the silicon surface. The region near the string is highly hydrophobic, and the contact angle decreases gradually toward a small value at the hydrophilic end away from this region. The change in wettability occurs over a distance of several mm. The strip is placed on a platform within a Plexiglas cell. Drops of a suitable liquid are introduced on top of the strip near the hydrophobic end. An optical system attached to a video camera is trained on the drop so that images of the moving drop can be captured on videotape for subsequent analysis. We have performed preliminary experiments with water as well as ethylene glycol drops. Results from these experiments will be presented in the poster. Future plans include the refinement of the experimental system so as to permit images to be recorded from the side as well as the top, and the conduct of a systematic study in which the drop size is varied over a good range. Experiments will be conducted with different fluids so as to obtain the largest possible range of suitably defined Reynolds and Capillary numbers. Also, an effort will be initiated on theoretical modeling of this motion. The challenges in the development of the theoretical description lie in the proper analysis of the region in the vicinity of the contact line, as well as in the free boundary nature of the problem. It is known that continuum models assuming the no slip condition all the way to the contact line fail by predicting that the stress on the solid surface becomes singular as the contact line is approached. One approach for dealing with this issue has been to relax the no-slip boundary condition using the Navier model. Molecular dynamics simulations of the contact line region show that for a non-polar liquid on a solid surface, the no-slip boundary condition is in fact incorrect near the contact line. Furthermore, the same simulations also show that the usual relationship between stress and the rate of deformation breaks down in the vicinity of the contact line. In developing continuum theoretical models of the system, we shall accommodate this knowledge to the extent possible.
A Study on Surface Texture and Wettability of Femtosecond Laser Treated Aluminum Alloys
This research aims to study the effects of femtosecond laser treatment on surface texture and wettability properties. The first portion of this research studies 2024-T3 aluminum alloy concerning surface texture (e.g., roughness), wettability, and surface free energy. SEM images help aid the researchers in detecting minuscule changes in surface texture. Profilometry extracts topographical data from the surface. A contact angle goniometer measures contact angle, which follows the sessile drop method. Owens, Wendt, Rabel, and Kaelble's method calculates the surface free energy in conjunction with the contact angle. Femtosecond laser modification produces relatively uniform surface morphology at the macroscale. When looking at the microscale, surface morphology differs depending on the interplay between material melting and self-assembly, where the surface becomes rougher after laser treatment. Contact angle results show that all but the control sample and sample 7 exhibit hydrophobic behavior, i.e., contact angle >90°, with Sample 1 having the most significant angle of 115°. The effects of laser parameters on surface energy is apparent. More work is needed to establish correlations among these three quantities: contact angle, surface energy, and laser parameters. The second portion of this research studies aluminum alloy 6061 as the subject material with the primary goal of creating a superhydrophobic surface. A central composite design creates the laser surface texturing design of experiments. SEM images help aid the researchers in detecting minuscule changes in surface texture. A 3D optical profiler extracts topographical data from the surface. The sessile drop method incorporates a contact angle goniometer to measure the contact angle. The response surface method builds a second-order polynomial model for the contact angle and obtains optimized parameters to maximize the contact angle. This research shows that laser surface texturing can generate a wide range of surface profiles and roughness values with geometric features ranging from hundreds of μm to submicron. All three laser parameters (pulse energy, pulse duration, repetition rate) affect surface roughness and contact angle to some degree. To quantify the relationship between the contact angle, pulse energy, and pulse repetition rate, a response surface model for Al 6061 is identified and used to find the optimal conditions of E=214 μJ, tp=10 ps, and fp=2427 Hz with a predicted maximum contact angle of 161°. A confirmation experiment produces a contact angle of 168°, in good agreement with the predicted value.
Direct Numerical Simulation of Wetting and Spreading Behavior on Heterogeneous and Roughened Substrates
A method of calculation is presented that allows the simulation of the time-dependent three-dimensional motion of thin liquid layers on solid substrates for systems with finite equilibrium contact angles. The contact angle is a prescribed function of position on the substrate. Similar mathematical models are constructed for substrates with a pattern of roughness. Evolution equations are given, using the lubrication approximation, that include viscous, capillary and disjoining forces. Motion to and from dry substrate regions is made possible by use of a thin energetically-stable wetting layer. We simulate motion on heterogeneous substrates with periodic arrays of high contact-angle patches. Two different problems are treated for heterogenous substrates. The first is spontaneous motion driven only by wetting forces. If the contact-angle difference is sufficiently high, the droplet can find several different stable positions, depending on the previous history of the motion. A second simulation treats a forced cyclical motion. Energy dissipation per cycle for a heterogeneous substrate is found to be larger than for a uniform substrate with the same total energy. The Landau-Levich solution for plate removal from a liquid bath is extended to account for a pattern of roughness on the plate.
Further studies of propellant sloshing under low-gravity conditions
A variational integral is formulated from Hamilton's Principle and is proved to be equivalent to the usual differential equations of low-gravity sloshing in ellipsoidal tanks. It is shown that for a zero-degree contact angle the contact line boundary condition corresponds to the stuck condition, a result that is due to the linearization of the equations and the ambiguity in the definition of the wave height at the wall. The variational integral is solved by a Rayleigh-Ritz technique. Results for slosh frequency when the free surface is not bent-over compare well with previous numerical solutions. When the free surface is bent over, however, the results for slosh frequency are considerably larger than those predicted by previous finite-difference, numerical approaches: the difference may be caused by the use of a zero degree contact angle in the present theory in contrast to the nonzero contact angle used in the numerical approaches.
Dynamic condensation model of rolling droplets for high-performance heat transfer
Condensation is a critical process during vapor-liquid phase change in relation to heat transfer. To achieve a high heat transfer coefficient, the classical model for dropwise condensation requires a low contact angle and low contact angle hysteresis, failing to align with experimental observations on a hydrophobic and slippery quasi-liquid surface (QLS). Here, we report a dynamic condensation model that incorporates high-frequency condensate removal by emphasizing the role of timescale during droplet growth and shedding. Our model agrees well with the experimental result that a surface with high contact angle and low contact angle hysteresis promotes condensation, particularly during rolling-propelled condensate removal. Particle image velocimetry reveals that rolling droplets on a hydrophobic QLS exhibit 4-fold higher shedding speeds than the sliding droplets on a hydrophilic QLS, leading to significant heat transfer enhancement. This work deepens our theoretical understanding of condensation heat transfer and provides advanced physics-informed design rationales for water and energy systems.