Formation and size prediction of bubble in slurry system in T-junction microchannel

doi:10.11949/0438-1157.20201081

Abstract

Abstract:

The formation process and size of bubbles in the slurry in the T-shaped microchannels were experimentally studied. The slurries with different polystyrene microsphere concentrations and nitrogen were used as the continuous phase and the dispersed phase in the experiment. The bubble formation process could be divided into three stages: expansion, squeezing and pinch-off stages. With the increase of slurry concentration, the duration of expansion stage is hardly various, the squeezing stage shortens obviously, while the pinch-off stage shortens slightly. The neck width of bubble presents power ratio relationship with dimensionless remaining time in the expansion and pinch-off stages, but linear in squeezing stage. The influences of slurry concentration, gas and liquid flow rates on bubble size were investigated. The results show that the bubble size increases with the increase of gas flow rate and decreases with the increase of liquid flow rate and slurry concentration.

Key words: microfluidics, T-junction, bubble formation, slurry

摘要：

实验研究了T型微通道内浆料中气泡的生成过程和尺寸。聚丙乙烯微球浆料和N₂分别为连续相和分散相。气泡的生成过程可分为三个阶段：膨胀阶段、挤压阶段和快速夹断阶段。随着浆料浓度的增大，膨胀阶段时长几乎没有变化，挤压阶段显著缩短，而快速夹断阶段略有缩短。在膨胀阶段和快速夹断阶段，气泡颈部宽度与无量纲剩余时间均呈幂率关系，而挤压阶段气泡颈部宽度与时间呈线性关系。考察了浆料浓度、气相和浆料流量对气泡生成尺寸的影响。结果表明气泡尺寸随气相流量的增大而增大，随液相流量和浆料浓度的增大而减小。

关键词: 微流控, T型通道, 气泡生成, 浆料

CLC Number:

TQ 021.4

CHEN Zhen, LIU Jing, ZHU Chunying, FU Taotao, MA Youguang. Formation and size prediction of bubble in slurry system in T-junction microchannel[J]. CIESC Journal, 2021, 72(2): 928-936.

陈祯, 刘静, 朱春英, 付涛涛, 马友光. T型微通道内浆料体系中气泡生成行为与尺寸预测[J]. 化工学报, 2021, 72(2): 928-936.

Figures/Tables 11

Fig.1 Rheological properties of slurry with different particle concentration

Table 1 Physical properties of slurry with different particle concentration

C_S/%(mass)	ρ/(kg·m^-3)	σ/(mN·m^-1)	K/(Pa·sⁿ)	n
0.1	1125.8	34.69	0.035	0.48
0.4	1126.0	34.87	0.062	0.44
1.0	1126.5	35.51	0.110	0.42
2.0	1126.6	35.57	0.250	0.39

Fig.2 Schematic diagram of experimental setup

Fig.3 Bubble formation processes

Fig.4 Evolution of dimensionless minimum width of bubble neck with time

Fig.5 Evolution of bubble neck in expansion stage

Fig.6 Evolution of bubble neck in squeezing stage

Fig.7 Evolution of bubble neck in pinch-off stage

Fig.8 Variation of dimensionless length of bubbles with gas flow rate and slurry flow rate

Fig.9 Influence of slurry concentration on dimensionless length of bubbles (QD= 120 ml·h-1)

Fig.10 Comparison of model prediction value and experimental value of bubble length

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