Spreading dynamics and contact angle of completely wetting volatile drops

Etienne Jambon-Puillet (1) , Odile Carrier (1) , Noushine Shahidzadeh (1) , David Brutin (2) , Jens Eggers (3) , Daniel Bonn (1)

1 VAN DER WAALS-ZEEMAN INSTITUTE - University of Amsterdam Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute
2 IUSTI - Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels
3 Department of Mathematics [Bristol]

The spreading of evaporating drops without a pinned contact line is studied experimentally and theoretically, measuring the radius R(t) of completely wetting alkane drops of different volatility on glass. Initially the drop spreads (R increases), then owing to evaporation reverses direction and recedes with an almost constant non-zero contact angle θ ∝ β 1/3 , where β measures the rate of evaporation; eventually the drop vanishes at a finite-time singularity. Our theory, based on a first-principles hydrodynamic description, well reproduces the dynamics of R and the value of θ during retraction.

Mots clés: Drop; Interfaces; Evaporation; condensation/evaporation; contact lines; drops; Complex fluid; Rheology

Domaines: Milieux fluides et réactifs; Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Thermique [physics.class-ph]

Etienne Jambon-Puillet, Odile Carrier, Noushine Shahidzadeh, David Brutin, Jens Eggers, et al.. Spreading dynamics and contact angle of completely wetting volatile drops. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2018, 844, pp.817 - 830. ⟨10.1017/jfm.2018.142⟩. ⟨hal-01769971⟩