| AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Inkjet Technology: Printing, Materials Processing, and Microfluidics Fundamentals Topical Conference | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session IJ+BI+MN-WeM |
| Session: | Microfluidic Fundamentals and Inkjet Technology |
| Presenter: | A. Fernandez-Nieves, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Authors: | A.S. Utada, Harvard University and University of Tokyo, Japan A. Fernandez-Nieves, Georgia Institute of Technology D.A. Weitz, Harvard University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Drop formation is an ubiquitous process familiar from our daily life. For example, water flowing through a faucet will break into droplets through one of two different mechanisms: discrete droplets will drip from the tap at low flow rates or a continuous jet will flow from the tap at higher flow rates. A qualitatively similar process happens when drop formation occurs within a second immiscible liquid. However, in this case, the presence of surface tension between the two immiscible liquids fundamentally alters the dynamics. We describe the transition between dripping and jetting in a coflowing stream within a microfluidic device and show that this transition can be understood with a general phase diagram [1]. Building on this understanding, we use a modified microfluidic device to generate monodisperse double emulsions from which we use to form novel core-shell structures [2].
[1] A. S. Utada, A. Fernandez-Nieves, H. A. Stone, D. A. Weitz, Phys Rev Lett 99, 094502 (2007).
[2] A. S. Utada et al., Science 308, 537 (2005).