Abstract
When a liquid droplet is placed on a very hot solid, it levitates on its own vapor layer, a phenomenon called the Leidenfrost effect. Although themechanisms governing the droplet's levitation have been explored, not much is known about the fate of the Leidenfrost droplet. Here we report on the final stages of evaporation of Leidenfrost droplets. While initially small droplets tend to take off, unexpectedly, the initially large ones explode with a crack sound. We interpret these in the context of unavoidable droplet contaminants, which accumulate at the dropletair interface, resulting in reduced evaporation rate, and contact with the substrate. We validate this hypothesis by introducing controlled amounts ofmicroparticles and reveal a universal 1/3-scaling law for the dimensionless explosion radius versus contaminant fraction. Our findings open up new opportunities for controlling the duration and rate of Leidenfrost heat transfer and propulsion by tuning the droplet's size and contamination.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | eaav8081 |
| Journal | Science Advances |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - May 2019 |
Fingerprint
Cite this
}
Final fate of a Leidenfrost droplet : Explosion or takeoff. / Lyu, Sijia; Mathai, Varghese; Wang, Yujie; Sobac, Benjamin; Colinet, Pierre; Lohse, Detlef; Sun, Chao.
In: Science Advances, Vol. 5, No. 5, eaav8081, 05.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Final fate of a Leidenfrost droplet
T2 - Explosion or takeoff
AU - Lyu, Sijia
AU - Mathai, Varghese
AU - Wang, Yujie
AU - Sobac, Benjamin
AU - Colinet, Pierre
AU - Lohse, Detlef
AU - Sun, Chao
PY - 2019/5
Y1 - 2019/5
N2 - When a liquid droplet is placed on a very hot solid, it levitates on its own vapor layer, a phenomenon called the Leidenfrost effect. Although themechanisms governing the droplet's levitation have been explored, not much is known about the fate of the Leidenfrost droplet. Here we report on the final stages of evaporation of Leidenfrost droplets. While initially small droplets tend to take off, unexpectedly, the initially large ones explode with a crack sound. We interpret these in the context of unavoidable droplet contaminants, which accumulate at the dropletair interface, resulting in reduced evaporation rate, and contact with the substrate. We validate this hypothesis by introducing controlled amounts ofmicroparticles and reveal a universal 1/3-scaling law for the dimensionless explosion radius versus contaminant fraction. Our findings open up new opportunities for controlling the duration and rate of Leidenfrost heat transfer and propulsion by tuning the droplet's size and contamination.
AB - When a liquid droplet is placed on a very hot solid, it levitates on its own vapor layer, a phenomenon called the Leidenfrost effect. Although themechanisms governing the droplet's levitation have been explored, not much is known about the fate of the Leidenfrost droplet. Here we report on the final stages of evaporation of Leidenfrost droplets. While initially small droplets tend to take off, unexpectedly, the initially large ones explode with a crack sound. We interpret these in the context of unavoidable droplet contaminants, which accumulate at the dropletair interface, resulting in reduced evaporation rate, and contact with the substrate. We validate this hypothesis by introducing controlled amounts ofmicroparticles and reveal a universal 1/3-scaling law for the dimensionless explosion radius versus contaminant fraction. Our findings open up new opportunities for controlling the duration and rate of Leidenfrost heat transfer and propulsion by tuning the droplet's size and contamination.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065618036&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.aav8081
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aav8081
M3 - Article
C2 - 31058224
AN - SCOPUS:85065618036
VL - 5
JO - Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Physics
JF - Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Physics
SN - 0019-5596
IS - 5
M1 - eaav8081
ER -