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Published on: April 7, 2017
Drying-induced back flow of colloidal suspensions confined in thin unidirectional drying cells
Kai Inoue1, Susumu Inasawa1,2
1Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology 2-24-16 Nakacho, Koganei Tokyo 184-8588 Japan inasawa@cc.tuat.ac.jp +81-42-388-7798 +81-42-388-7105.
Abstract:
A clear back flow was observed in the thin unidirectional drying cell of a colloidal suspension. Flow around the colloidal-particle packing front was more complex than expected, even though a colloidal suspension was confined in a narrow space with a submillimeter-scale or shorter gap height. We propose that an increase in particle concentration around the packing front induces downward flow, which is the origin for back flow inside the cell. A mathematical model, which considered both a drying induced horizontal flow and a circulation flow caused by a concentration gradient of particles, showed a reasonable agreement with experimental data for the width of the back-flow region. The concentration gradient of particles was not negligible and it generated a rather complicated flow even in a thin drying liquid film.
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