Study on the Bouncing Behaviors of a Non-Newtonian Fluid Droplet Impacting on a Hydrophobic Surface

The control of a droplet bouncing on a substrate is of great importance not only in academic research but also in practical applications. In this work, we focus on a particular type of non-Newtonian fluid known as shear-thinning fluid. The rebound behaviors of shear-thinning fluid droplets impinging on a hydrophobic surface (equilibrium contact angle θeq ≈ 108°and contact angle hysteresis Δθ ≈ 20°) have been studied experimentally and numerically. The impact processes of Newtonian fluid droplets with various viscosities and non-Newtonian fluid droplets with dilute xanthan gum solutions were recorded by a high-speed imaging system under a range of Weber numbers (We) from 12 to 208. A numerical model of the droplet impact on the solid substrate was also constructed using a finite element scheme with the phase field method (PFM). The experimental results show that unlike the Newtonian fluid droplets where either partial rebound or deposition occurs, complete rebound behavior was observed for non-Newtonian fluid droplets under a certain range of We. Moreover, the minimum value of We required for complete rebound increases with xanthan concentration. The numerical simulations indicate that the shear-thinning property significantly affects the rebound behavior of the droplets. As the amount of xanthan increases, the high shear rate regions shift to the bottom of the droplet and the receding of the contact line accelerates. Once the high shear rate region appears only near the contact line, the droplet tends to fully rebound even on a hydrophobic surface. Through the impact maps of various droplets, we found that the maximum dimensionless height Hmax* of the droplet increases almost linearly with We as Hmax* ∼ αWe. In addition, a critical value Hmax, c* for the distinction between deposition and rebound for droplets on the hydrophobic surface has been theoretically derived. The prediction of the model shows good consistency with the experimental results.