Wetting Behavior and Evaporation Characteristics of Nanofluid Droplets on Glass Surfaces

This study investigates experimentally evaporation characteristics of nanofluid droplets containing 50 nm alumina() particles and the wettability changes on a hydrophilic glass surfaces. From the captured digital images by using a CMOS camera and a magnifying lens, we examined the effect of particle concentration on droplet evaporation rate which can be indirectly deduced from the measured droplet volumes varying with time. In particular, with the use of a digital image analysis technique, the present study measured droplet perimeters and the contact angles to study the wetting dynamics during evaporating process. In addition, we compared the measured total evaporation time with theoretically estimated values. It was found that as the volume fractions of nanofluid increased, the total evaporation time and the initial contact angles decreased, while the droplet perimeters increased.