Impact of drops of polymer solutions on small targets
Résumé
The collision of drops of polymer solutions with small targets was studied experimentally. The tested liquids were aqueous solutions of polyethylene oxide (MW=4 000 000) at concentrations of 10, 100, 1000 wt ppm. The drop impact velocity was about 3.5 m/s, and the drop diameters were in the range of 2.6-3.8 mm. The target was a stainless steel disk of 3.9 mm diameter. The collision was monitored by means of high-speed photography technique. As in the case of pure water, a circular liquid lamella was formed, and then it retracted with formation of outwards-directed secondary jets. There was no significant difference between the values of the maximum diameter and the retraction velocity of the lamella in the cases of water and polymeric liquids. On the contrary, the polymeric additives drastically changed the character of the lamella retraction. The secondary jets were transformed into thinning filaments submitted to elastic stresses with an attached droplet. Then, depending on the polymer concentration, the filaments ruptured and the attached droplets escaped, or the liquid filaments pulled the attached droplets back and the whole liquid returned to the target. A splashing threshold has been derived for polymeric liquids based on the liquid relaxation time and the impact conditions. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.