SEMINAR
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEEERING
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
Monday, March 5, 2001
11 Riddick - 10:10 AM
Dynamics and Rheology of Polymer and Surfactant Solutions in Suppressing Aerosol Formation
Esin Gulari
Wayne State University
The effect of dissolving high molecular weight polymers in
liquids at very low concentrations is to make the liquid
slightly elastic and thus providing an effective method of
controlling aerosol formation. The breakup or atomization of
slightly elastic liquid produces larger drops or prevents
formation of drops depending on the applied stresses. There
are many industrial processes where controlling the
formation of small drops is very important. Such processes
include ink-jet printing, agricultural spraying and metal
cutting operations.
In this seminar, the results of experiments designed to
elucidate the mechanisms of aerosol formation through
controlled atomization and elongational rheometry are
presented. The choice of systems target the type of fluids
used in metal working operations in the automotive industry.
However, these systems exhibit fundamental variations in
complexity, from binary polymer solutions to ternary
associating polymer-surfactant and polymer-polymer
solutions. For all systems, the increase in average drop size,
due to dissolved polymer or polymer-surfactant mixture in
the liquid, strongly correlates to the elongational viscosity of
the solution.