Measurement of the Kinetics of Solution Droplets in a Continuously Mixed Chamber

An experimental system is designed for the measurement of the evaporation and growth kinetics of individual solution droplets. Electrostatically charged droplets, nominally tens of micrometers in diameter, are suspended in a hyperboloidal electrodynamic chamber by balancing the droplet ueight against a uniform electrostatic field. By controlling the mixing dynamics in the chamber with specific flow configurations, a continuously mixed chamber is achieved. Consequently the Instantaneous chamber relative humidity is predicted from an exponential law with o characteristic relaxation time which is given by the ratio of the chamber volume and the gas volumetric flow rate. The evaporation and growth kinetics of phosphoric acid droplets is measured for relative humidity changes between 30 and 80%. Comparison between experimental and theoretical instantaneous droplet masses reveals less than a 5% deviation.The present system is employed to analyze the effect of adsorbed hexadecanol surfactant molecules on the evaporation and growth kinetics of phosphoric acid droplets. It is found a critical coverage exists which will result in a dramatic reduction in the evaporation kinetics of solution droplets. ConcomiCantly, the condensation coefficient is reduced from unity to 4.0 x 10-5 as droplet kinetics occur in the presence of a complete monolayer of hexadecanol.