Air entrainment dynamics of aqueous polymeric droplets from dilute to semidilute unentangled regimes

What is it about?

During droplet impact, the purging of air underneath often reaches scales which are orders of magnitude smaller than the drop size itself and a submicron layer of air can actually completely prevent contact. When polymer is present inside the drop, the curvature of the air film can change, providing information about how much polymer is inside the solution.

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Photo by Robert Boyer on Unsplash

Photo by Robert Boyer on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The work helps provide an alternative means by which practitioners may be able to determine the critical polymer concentration at which overlap occurs. The finding may be particularly helpful for applications where the determination of the flow features is limited by the available volume or cost.