Contact line dynamics in drop coalescence and spreading

The dynamics of coalescence of two water sessile drops is investigated and compared with the spreading dynamics of a single drop in partially wetting regime. The composite drop formed due to coalescence relaxes exponentially toward equilibrium with a typical relaxation time that decreases with contact angle. The relaxation time can reach a few tenths of seconds and depends also on the drop size, initial conditions, and surface properties (contact angle, roughness). The relaxation dynamics is larger by 5 to 6 orders of magnitude than the bulk hydrodynamics predicts, due to the high dissipation in the contact line vicinity. The coalescence is initiated at a contact of the drops growing in a condensation chamber or by depositing a small drop at the top of neighboring drops with a syringe, a method also used for the studies of the spreading. The dynamics is systematically faster by an order of magnitude when comparing the syringe deposition with condensation. We explain this faster dynamics by the influence of the unavoidable drop oscillations observed with fast camera filming. Right after the syringe deposition, the drop is vigorously excited by deformation modes, favoring the contact line motion. This excitation is also observed in spreading experiments while it is absent during the condensation-induced coalescence.     

Viscous coalescence of expanding low-viscosity drops; the dueling drops experiment

A new experimental device was designed and developed for the systematic study of the interaction of two, very small low viscosity expanding drops that were pushed out of the ends of two aligned opposing capillaries into a polymeric liquid. The idea of this experiment is to mimic the interactions of two expanding bubbles during the formation of polymeric foams; for convenience, we call this device the dueling drops experiment. In the current setup, we are able to grow drops (50-200 microm maximum diameter) at a controlled flow rate (down to 0.1 microl/day). Optical observation of the pair of growing drops was achieved by the use of an optical zoom lens system for a side view, and a "long-range" microscope for a top view, thus ensuring complete alignment of the capillaries and partial observation of the thin-film. Measurements are reported for the drainage time between the apparent initial contact of the drops and film rupture. A simple scaling theory was developed based on the drainage of two approaching flat disk-like interfaces, the radius of which expands throughout the interaction as the volume of the drop increases.     

Shear-induced coalescence of emulsified oil drops

Crude oil droplets, when suspended in water, possess negative surface charges which give rise to double-layer repulsive forces between the drops. According to conventional DLVO theory, the magnitude of this repulsion (based on the measured zeta potential) is more than sufficient to prevent coalescence of the droplets. Indeed, when two such droplets were brought together on direct (i.e., "head-on") approach, coalescence was rarely observed. Upon oblique approach, however, the same droplets were seen to coalesce readily. An oblique encounter must necessarily give rise to lateral relative motion-or shearing-between the droplet surfaces. It is speculated that, if the charge distributions at the droplet surfaces were heterogeneous, lateral shearing would facilitate many encounters between surface patches of different zeta potentials across the intervening water film. If the repulsion across any local region were sufficiently weak to allow formation of an oil bridge across the water film, coalescence of the drops would follow inevitably. With the hypothesis of surface heterogeneity, it is not necessary to invoke any additional colloidal interactions (such as "hydrophobic forces") to account for the observed droplet-droplet coalescence. This finding may have important implications for the underlying mechanisms of emulsion stability in general and the commercial extraction of bitumen from oil sands in particular.     

Ternary diffusion coefficients of diethylene glycol and lithium chloride in aqueous solutions containing diethylene glycol and lithium chloride

In this work, ternary diffusion coefficients of diethylene glycol and lithium chloride in aqueous solutions containing diethylene glycol and lithium chloride were reported for temperatures (303.2, 308.2, and 313.2 K) using the Taylor dispersion method. The investigated ternaries contained total glycol–salt concentrations of 10, 15, and 20 wt%. The main diffusion coefficients (D₁₁ and D₂₂) and the cross-diffusion coefficients (D₁₂ and D₂₁) were discussed as function of temperature and concentration. A modified equation originally proposed by Batchelor [1] for mixture of hard spheres in a continuum solvent was used to correlate the present diffusion coefficient data and the results are satisfactory.     

Catalysis of heteropoly acidic salts for synthesis of diethylene glycol ethyl ether with diethylene glycol and ethanol

Ag₃PW₁₂O₄₀ and Ag₄SiW₁₂O₄₀ showed high activity and stability in the synthesis of diethylene glycol ethyl ether with diethylene glycol and ethanol, on which the conversion is 80.2% and 78.4%, respectively, and the selectivity of diethylene glycol ether is 75.4% and 80.6%, respectively. After the third reaction cycle, Ag₃PW₁₂O₄₀ and Ag₄SiW₁₂O₄₀) still showed higher activity and selectivity, on which the conversion is 72. 6% and 77.5% respectively. But the activity of Ag₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ is lower, the conversion is only 21.0%. IR, XRD, TG and n‐butylamine titrimetry showed that the catalysis may be connected with two kinds of acidic centers owned by heteropoly acidic salt.     

Quantitation of diethylene glycol monoethyl ether in citrus oils

The use of diethylene glycol monoethyl ether as a flavor solvent is restricted. Since existing methods of quantitation are tedious or require sophisticated multi-dimensional GC instrumentation, a simple method has been developed using low cost GC-MS. Monitoring of ions 31 and 45 enables quantitation of DEGEE in essential oils at levels down to 1 μg/g with accuracy equal to or better than 15%.     

Quantitative determination of diethylene glycol contamination in pharmaceutical products

A simple, rapid, and reliable method was developed for the quantitative determination of diethylene glycol (DEG) in pharmaceutical products using capillary gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. The method uses ethylene glycol as internal standard and allows for the separation of propylene glycol and DEG. The assay was linear in a DEG concentration range between 1.0 and 10.00 mg/mL, with coefficients of variation of 2.3-4.4% for the tested concentrations. Quantitation and detection limits, respectively, were 1.0 mg/mL and 0.15 mg/mL diethylene glycol. The method was used to analyze 3 pharmaceutical products possibly contaminated with diethylene glycol, of which one was suspected of causing intoxication and death in children. Infrared spectroscopy was used to confirm the identity of diethylene glycol. This analytical methodology is proposed for evaluation of pharmaceutical products containing glycols to prevent intoxication and for security level verification.     

Contact line and contact angle dynamics in superhydrophobic channels

The dynamics of the wetting and movement of a three-phase contact line confined between two superhydrophobic surfaces were studied using a mean-field free-energy lattice Boltzmann model. Principle features of superhydrophobic surfaces, such as trapped vapor/air between rough microstructures, high contact angles, reduced contact angle hysteresis, and low resistance to fluid flow, were all observed. Movement of the three-phase contact line over a well-patterned superhydrophobic surface displays a periodic stick-jump-slip behavior, while the dynamic contact angle changes accordingly from maximum to minimum. Two regimes were found for the flow velocity as a function of surface roughness and can be related directly to the balance between driving force and flow resistance. This work provides a better understanding of dynamic wetting and fluid flow behaviors over superhydrophobic surfaces and hence could be useful in related applications.     

Preparation of copolymer microspheres of diethylene glycol dimethacrylate

Preparation of copolymer microspheres of diethylene glycol dimethacrylate (2G) with several comonomers by radiation-induced radical polymerization is described. Ethyl methacrylate (EMA), acrylamide, maleic anhydride, and styrene gave microspheres successively. The copolymerization resulted in gelation more easily than the 2G homopolymerization. The allowed ratio of copolymerization is up to about 0.4 as the mole fraction of comonomer for the solution containing 10 vol % 2G monomer. Copolymerization affected the size of microspheres by keeping its narrow distribution. The size of microspheres was increased by the copolymerization with EMA and styrene and, was decreased with acrylamide. The formation of microsphere strongly depends on the crosslinking ability of monomers. The crosslinking ability and reactivity in the copolymerization cause the change of the size of the microspheres. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Crystallization of poly(diethylene glycol terephthalate)

The crystallization of a low molecular weight fraction of poly(diethylene glycol terephthalate) (PDET) was studied from the melt and from benzene, ethyl acetate and chlorobenzene. From the melt, crystallization does not occur, irrespective of the crystallization temperature. When PDET is crystallized from solutions in the three solvents, by isothermal growth at temperatures from 10 to 30°, crystals are obtained in the concentration range examined. Crystals were investigated by X-ray diffraction and by differential scanning calorimetry in order to measure the crystallinity, the melting points, glass transition and melting depression of mixtures of the polymer with solvents. Prior to crystallization, at given undercoolings and sufficient concentrations, gelation occurs due to microstructural heterogeneity.     

Gas-chromatographic determination of propylene- and diethylene glycol ethers in urine

Summary In order to reduce the health risks in solvent technology, produced by the largely used ethylene glycol ethers, these are getting more and more substituted by glycol ethers derived from propylene glycol. According to the current knowledge these also called 1-alkoxy-2-propanols are to a considerable amount excreted unmetabolized in urine; so these substances themselves might be used for the estimation of health risks. The sensitive analysis consists of a special extraction step using diatomaceous earth. The extract is then concentrated for further gas-chromatographic investigation (FID). Using this technique, 17 in part widely used glycol ethers in urine were determined.     

Reactions in double emulsions by flow-controlled coalescence of encapsulated drops

We demonstrate a microfluidic method to first generate double emulsion droplets containing two different inner drops, and to then control the internal coalescence of the encapsulated drops. The advantages of the core-coalescence method are illustrated by fabricating high viscosity particles and by demonstrating the dissolution of cell membranes.     

The kinetics of diethylene glycol formation in the preparation of polyethylene terephthalate

For revealing diethylene glycol (DEG) formation in poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) synthesis, this research focused on finding the stage most critical for DEG formation. It is found that the esterification stage was the most critical stage for DEG formation during production of PET through the direct esterification process. In addition, the kinetics of the formation of DEG (ether bond), which is mainly produced from hydroxyl end groups of ethylene glycol (EG) and bis-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (BHET) oligomer, was investigated. The results show that the reactivity of BHET-OH functional group is greater than that of EG-OH functional group in the reaction to produce ether bonds. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 36: 3073–3080, 1998     

Degradation mechanism of diethylene glycol units in a terephthalate polymer

Diethylene glycol (DEG) is incorporated into poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) during industrial synthesis in order to control crystallisation kinetics. DEG is known to be a weak point in the thermal degradation of PET, which is problematic during the recycling of the polymer.Studies on the thermal decomposition of the model polymer poly(diethylene glycol terephthalate) (PDEGT) have been performed using TG, DSC, TVA and spectroscopic techniques. They revealed a degradation behaviour with two distinct steps, where the first step initiates some 100 K below the degradation temperature of PET. The second step is similar to the behaviour of PET.Based on our observations, a new degradation mechanism specific to DEG units is proposed, where random ether groups along the backbone can back-bite and form cyclic oligomers. These cyclic species, containing ether moieties, are evolved at 245 °C and constitute the first of the two steps of degradation observed for PDEGT.     

气相色谱-质谱法快速测定牙膏中的二甘醇

建立了气相色谱-质谱法（GC-MS）快速测定牙膏中的二甘醇的方法。牙膏样品经三氯甲烷提取后,应用气相色谱-质谱联用仪,以选择离子监测（SIM）模式对其中的二甘醇进行分析。二甘醇的线性范围为21.24-1062 mg/L,线性相关系数（r）为0.9995;检出限和定量限分别为2.0、5.0 mg/L;高、中、低3种浓度下的回收率在88.51%-101.6%之间,相对标准偏差（RSD）在1.6%-8.11%之间;仪器对二甘醇的响应在24 h内保持稳定。