Hanchak M.S., Furlani E.P.
Eastman Kodak Company, US
Keywords: continuous inkjet, drop formation, Marangoni instability, slender jet analysis
In this presentation a numerical model is described for predicting drop generation from microscale liquid jets of Newtonian fluid. The model uses a one-dimensional slender-jet approximation to obtain the equations of motion for the free-surface and velocity of the jet in the form of a set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs). These equations are solved using the method-of-lines (MOL). The novelty of this model is that it predicts jet instability to breakup and beyond thereby enabling an analysis of the generation of multiple sequential drops including the details of satellite formation. The model is validated using established computational data, as well as axisymmetric volume of fluid (VOF) computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations. The key advantages of the model are its ease of implementation and speed of computation that is several orders of magnitude faster than the numerical CFD simulations. The model enables rapid parametric analysis of jet breakup and drop formation as a function of jet dimensions, modulation parameters, and fluid rheology. It can be adapted to both drop-on-demand or continuous inkjet applications.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2010: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational
Published: June 21, 2010
Pages: 519 - 522
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Inkjet Design, Materials & Fabrication
ISBN: 978-1-4398-3402-2