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Viscoelastic Fingering of Shear-Thinning Drops Impacting on Superhydrophobic Surfaces
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics. (FLOW)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8904-6309
KTH, Centres, SeRC - Swedish e-Science Research Centre. KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics. (FLOW)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0906-3687
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics. (FLOW)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3054-8782
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics. (FLOW)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8209-1449
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2026 (English)In: Langmuir, ISSN 0743-7463, E-ISSN 1520-5827, Vol. 42, no 19, p. 13925-13937Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

When water droplets impact solid surfaces at high velocity, they often develop radial protrusions, known as fingering instabilities, that subsequently break up during spreading and retraction, a process termed splashing. Here, we investigate the fingering dynamics of shear-thinning viscoelastic droplets impacting superhydrophobic surfaces. At low polymer concentrations, liquid elasticity promotes the emergence of elongated fingers while simultaneously stabilizing them against breakup, thereby suppressing splashing. In contrast, an increasing polymer concentration enhances viscous damping, reducing the number of fingers and ultimately suppressing the fingering instability. Our results indicate that the onset of fingering is governed by the interplay of inertia, surface tension, and viscous stresses, while the number of fingers scales robustly with the Weber number. This highlights the dominance of inertia–capillary dynamics in our range of Weber numbers once the instability is triggered. Remarkably, all impact outcomes resulted in complete rebound, in contrast to a previous observation for viscoelastic droplets. Finally, we employ a theoretical framework to predict the temporal evolution of the mean ligament length across polymer concentrations, providing quantitative insight into how elasticity modifies drop retraction dynamics.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Chemical Society (ACS) , 2026. Vol. 42, no 19, p. 13925-13937
National Category
Fluid Mechanics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-382970DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6c01487ISI: 001759277500001PubMedID: 42093344Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105039189754OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-382970DiVA, id: diva2:2066410
Note

QC 20260605

Available from: 2026-06-05 Created: 2026-06-05 Last updated: 2026-06-05Bibliographically approved

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Diaz, DiegoGeetha Balasubramanian, ArivazhaganAmini, KasraBagheri, ShervinTammisola, Outi

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Diaz, DiegoGeetha Balasubramanian, ArivazhaganAmini, KasraBagheri, ShervinTammisola, Outi
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