Cai Lingzhi, Marthelot Joel, Brun P-T
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.
Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, IUSTI, 13013 Marseille, France.
Sci Adv. 2022 Jul 8;8(27):eabq0828. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abq0828. Epub 2022 Jul 6.
The breakup of liquid threads into droplets is prevalent in engineering and natural settings. While drop formation in these systems has a long-standing history, existing studies typically consider axisymmetric systems. Conversely, the physics at play when multiple threads are involved and the interaction of a thread with a symmetry breaking boundary remain unexplored. Here, we show that the breakup of closely spaced liquid threads sequentially printed in an immiscible bath locks into crystal-like lattices of droplets. We rationalize the hydrodynamics at the origin of this previously unknown phenomenon. We leverage this knowledge to tune the lattice pattern via the control of injection flow rate and nozzle translation speed, thereby overcoming the limitations in structural versatility typically seen in existing fluid manipulations paradigms. We further demonstrate that these drop crystals have the ability to self-correct and propose a simple mechanism to describe the convergence toward a uniform pattern of drops.
液线破碎成液滴的现象在工程和自然环境中普遍存在。虽然这些系统中的液滴形成有着悠久的历史，但现有研究通常考虑轴对称系统。相反，当涉及多根液线时所起的物理作用以及液线与对称破缺边界的相互作用仍未得到探索。在此，我们表明，在不混溶浴中依次打印的紧密间隔液线的破碎会锁定成类似晶体的液滴晶格。我们对这一前所未知现象背后的流体动力学原理进行了合理分析。我们利用这一知识，通过控制注入流速和喷嘴平移速度来调整晶格图案，从而克服了现有流体操纵范式中通常存在的结构通用性限制。我们进一步证明，这些液滴晶体具有自我校正能力，并提出了一种简单机制来描述向均匀液滴图案的收敛过程。
