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    Pressure-driven microfluidic droplet formation in Newtonian and shear-thinning fluids in glass flow-focusing microchannels

    Year: 2021

    Journal: Int. J. Multiph. Flow, Volume 140, JUL

    Authors: Chen, Qi; Li, Jingkun; Song, Yu; Chen, Bin; Christopher, David M.; Li, Xuefang

    Organizations: Foshan-Tsinghua Innovation Special Fund (FTISF) [2019THFS0114]

    Keywords: Microdroplet formation; Flow-focusing devices; Newtonian fluids; Shear-thinning fluids; Self-similarity

    Pressure-driven microdroplet formation was experimentally investigated in glass flow-focusing devices using micro-imaging. The observations illustrated the effects of some important factors affecting the droplet formation, including the channel geometry, two-phase flow rates and non-Newtonian behavior of the continuous phase. Although the droplet formation dynamics showed some different characteristics in different geometries, self-similarities of the dispersed thread were found in both devices for various initial conditions by normalizing the thread length and time. When power-law shear-thinning fluids were used as the continuous phase, the growth of the dispersed thread was still self-similar, but the relationship became linear rather than power-law as with the Newtonian continuous phase. The droplet shape also changed for droplet generated in shear-thinning fluids, so a deformation index (D.I.) was defined to describe the shape differences. Finally, a previously presented prediction model was validated by the experimental data with good agreement. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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