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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Fabricating High-viscosity Droplets using Microfluidic Capillary Device with Phase-inversion Co-flow Structure
Published on: April 17, 2018
Swirling of viscous fluid threads in microchannels
Thomas Cubaud1, Thomas G Mason
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Department of Physics and Astronomy, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
Abstract:
Viscous threads that are swept along in the flow of a less viscous miscible liquid can break up into viscous swirls. We experimentally investigate the evolution of miscible threads that flow off center in microchannels. Thin threads near the walls of a straight square channel become unstable to shear-induced disturbances. The amplification of the undulations transverse to the flow direction ultimately causes the threads to break up and form an array of individual viscous swirls, the miscible counterparts of droplets. This swirling instability provides a means for passively producing discrete diffusive microstructures in a continuous flow regime.
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