Fatehifar, M orcid.org/0000-0002-8770-729X, Revell, A orcid.org/0000-0001-7435-1506 and Jabbari, M orcid.org/0000-0003-3615-969X (2021) Non-Newtonian Droplet Generation in a Cross-Junction Microfluidic Channel. Polymers, 13 (12). 1915. ISSN 2073-4360
Abstract
A two-dimensional CFD model based on volume-of-fluid (VOF) is introduced to examine droplet generation in a cross-junction microfluidic using an open-source software, OpenFOAM together with an interFoam solver. Non-Newtonian power-law droplets in Newtonian liquid is numerically studied and its effect on droplet size and detachment time in three different regimes, i.e., squeezing, dripping and jetting, are investigated. To understand the droplet formation mechanism, the shear-thinning behaviour was enhanced by increasing the polymer concentrations in the dispersed phase. It is observed that by choosing a shear-dependent fluid, droplet size decreases compared to Newtonian fluids while detachment time increases due to higher apparent viscosity. Moreover, the rheological parameters—n and K in the power-law model—impose a considerable effect on the droplet size and detachment time, especially in the dripping and jetting regimes. Those parameters also have the potential to change the formation regime if the capillary number (Ca) is high enough. This work extends the understanding of non-Newtonian droplet formation in microfluidics to control the droplet characteristics in applications involving shear-thinning polymeric solutions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | CFD; cross-junction; droplet; microfluidics; non-Newtonian; power-law |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mechanical Engineering (Leeds) > Institute of Engineering Thermofluids, Surfaces & Interfaces (iETSI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jul 2023 16:15 |
Last Modified: | 17 Jul 2023 16:15 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/polym13121915 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:201461 |