Excitation and dynamics of liquid tin micrometer droplet generation

The dynamics of capillary breakup-based droplet generation are studied for an excitation system based on a tunable piezoelectrically actuated oscillating piston, which generates acoustic pressure waves at the dispenser nozzle. First, the non-ideal pressure boundary conditions of droplet breakup are measured using a fast response pressure probe. A structural analysis shows that the axial modes of the excitation system are the main reasons for the resonance peaks in the pressure response. Second, a correlation between the nozzle inlet pressure and the droplet timing jitter is established with the help of experiments and a droplet formation model. With decreasing wave number, the growth rate of the main excitation decreases, while noise contributions with wave numbers with higher growth rates lead to a non-deterministic structure of the droplet train. A highly coherent and monodisperse droplet stream is obtained when the excitation system is tuned to generate high acoustic pressures at the desired operation frequency and when the noise level on the jet is limited. The jet velocity, hence droplet spacing for a set frequency is then adjusted by varying the reservoir pressure, according to the trade-off between lowest wave number and acceptable timing jitter.