Publication

Abstract :

Hypothesis: Surface acoustic waves (SAW) propagating along a solid surface can significantly affect the dynamics of droplet impact. Although droplet impact in presence of SAW has been attempted recently, Through the current work we investigate the impact and spread dynamics along with post-impact oscillation of the drop with respect to the variation in surface wettability, droplet size, impact velocity, and SAW power on the phenomena.

Experiments: Here, we study droplet impact on a surface exposed to traveling SAW produced using an interdigitated electrode patterned on a piezoelectric substrate. The effects of Weber number, surface wettability, and SAW power on the impact and spreading dynamics and post-impact oscillation dynamics are studied.

Findings: Our study unravels that the interplay between capillary and viscous forces, and inertia forces arising due to pre-impact kinetic energy and SAW-induced bulk acoustic streaming underpins the phenomena. Remarkably, we find that the effect of SAW on droplet impact dynamics is predominant in the case of a hydrophilic (HPL) substrate at a higher SAW power and smaller and hydrophobic (HPB) substrate irrespective of SAW power. Our study reveals that the maximum droplet spreading diameter increases with SAW power at smaller for an HPL surface whereas it is independent of SAW power at higher We. Post-impact oscillation of a droplet over an HPL surface is found to be overdamped with a smaller amplitude compared to an HPB substrate, and a faster decay in oscillation amplitude is observed in the case of an HPB surface and higher. Our study provides an improved understanding of droplet impact on a surface exposed to SAW that may find relevance in various practical applications.