The onset of heterogeneity in the pinch-off of suspension drops.

Thiévenaz, Virgile; Sauret, Alban · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

SignificanceThe pinch-off of a liquid drop extruded from a nozzle is a canonical situation that involves a series of self-similar regimes ending in a finite-time singularity. This configuration allows for exploring capillary flows over a large range of scales. In the case of suspension drops, the presence of particles breaks the self-similarity by introducing a length scale that can be much larger than the particle diameter. This length scale is a signature of the heterogeneities and delimitates a regime, in which a continuum approach of a suspension can be used from a regime where the discrete nature of the particles is involved.