Pressure-driven filling of liquid metal in closed-end microchannels

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Author(s)
Ganan-Calvo, Alfonso M
Guo, Wei
Xi, Heng-Dong
Teo, Adrian JT
Nam-Trung, Nguyen
Tan, Say Hwa
Year published
2018
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We observe unsteady flow behavior of liquid metal during a pressure-driven injection process into a closed-ended polydimethylsiloxane microchannel. Constant pressure is applied at the inlet to allow eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) to completely fill the porous microchannels. In contrast to open channels [M. D. Dickey et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 18, 1097 (2008)], the flow exhibits a complex unsteady behavior with sudden random length jumps and time stops. However, with appropriate formulation of a suitable mathematical model with the system using (i) the permeability of polydimethylsiloxane to air, (ii) previous descriptions ...
View more >We observe unsteady flow behavior of liquid metal during a pressure-driven injection process into a closed-ended polydimethylsiloxane microchannel. Constant pressure is applied at the inlet to allow eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) to completely fill the porous microchannels. In contrast to open channels [M. D. Dickey et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 18, 1097 (2008)], the flow exhibits a complex unsteady behavior with sudden random length jumps and time stops. However, with appropriate formulation of a suitable mathematical model with the system using (i) the permeability of polydimethylsiloxane to air, (ii) previous descriptions of the nature of the EGaIn surface oxide layer, and (iii) a key probabilistic approach, we show that the average quantities defining the quantumlike flow can be accurately predicted. The proposed probabilistic formulation provides for the first time a description of the dynamics of the surface oxide layer, the breaking and healing characteristic times when EGaIn is driven in a microchannel. Importantly, this work provides a better understanding of complex flow behavior and lays the foundation for future work.
View less >
View more >We observe unsteady flow behavior of liquid metal during a pressure-driven injection process into a closed-ended polydimethylsiloxane microchannel. Constant pressure is applied at the inlet to allow eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) to completely fill the porous microchannels. In contrast to open channels [M. D. Dickey et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 18, 1097 (2008)], the flow exhibits a complex unsteady behavior with sudden random length jumps and time stops. However, with appropriate formulation of a suitable mathematical model with the system using (i) the permeability of polydimethylsiloxane to air, (ii) previous descriptions of the nature of the EGaIn surface oxide layer, and (iii) a key probabilistic approach, we show that the average quantities defining the quantumlike flow can be accurately predicted. The proposed probabilistic formulation provides for the first time a description of the dynamics of the surface oxide layer, the breaking and healing characteristic times when EGaIn is driven in a microchannel. Importantly, this work provides a better understanding of complex flow behavior and lays the foundation for future work.
View less >
Journal Title
Physical Review E
Volume
98
Copyright Statement
© 2018 American Physical Society. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Fluid mechanics and thermal engineering