Effect of nozzle tip configuration on the micro-droplet formation

Micro-droplet formation is an emerging area of research due to its wide-ranging applications in micro-fluidic based devices. For high resolution patterning and coating processes in various industrial fields, the formation of micro-droplets should be controlled according to the rheological properties of the working fluids. However, the physical properties of the some of working fluids are limited to meet the industrial applications. In this paper, the effect of the nozzle tip configuration on the micro-droplet formation process was numerically observed. A two-phase level-set modeling method was employed for simulations, and the results for various nozzle shapes were compared. In order to validate the numerical results of ink-jet printing with various operating conditions, we introduced a dimensionless parameter Z which is the factor of correlation of dynamic viscosity with surface tension of a working fluid on the microfluidics of drop-on-demand (DOD) jets, and obtained reasonable values of Z. Also, the numerical results such as velocity and shear rate distributions, etc. were graphically depicted in two-dimensional coordinates.