Fingering Instability of Binary Droplets on Oil Pool

Abstract

The interfacial instability of a complex fluid in a multiphase flow system is ubiquitous in both nature and industry. We experimentally investigated the spreading and interfacial instability dynamics of a binary droplet (a water and 2-propanol (IPA) mixture) on an immiscible (sunflower oil) pool. For droplets of 40 wt% IPA solution on sunflower oil, fingering instability occurred at the spreading liquid front. To reveal the interfacial characteristics of the spreading and fingering processes, we analyzed the interplay among the speed, diameter, and number of fingers on the spreading front. Based on our observations, the finger length, wavelength between the fingers, head length, and neck length were quantified. Our experimental results clearly demonstrate that fingering instability can be driven by the capillary effect for a liquid–liquid system as well as the Plateau–Rayleigh instability. We hope that our results will inspire further experimental and numerical investigations to provide deeper insights into the interfacial dynamics of multicomponent droplets in a liquid pool.

Keywords

• fingering instability
• binary droplets
• droplet spreading