UCLA

Spreading of liquid drop on cold solid substrates followed by solidification involves heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and phase change physics. Coupling of these physical phenomena, although present in many industrial applications and nature, renders the physical understanding of the process challenging. Here, the key aspects of molten liquid spreading and solidifying on cold solid substrate are examined experimentally and theoretically. A novel hypothesis of spreading solidifying drops on cold solid substrates is introduced that emphasizes on early stages of the drop solidification at the solid-liquid-gas interface. The derived equations of the drop motion and arrest, stemmed from the development of the presented hypothesis, are in accord with obtained empirical results. The hypothesis is then thoroughly tested with new sets of experiments: i) Drop impact experiments, ii) Inclined plate experiments.

In addition, the solidification of static supercooled drops and the initiation mechanism of an intermittent stage (recalescence) are addressed. Also, a peculiar delay-freezing property of hydrophobic surfaces is examined under varying liquid flow rates and substrate temperatures. Moreover, a new phenomenon of cold-induced spreading of water drops on hydrophobic surfaces due to premature condensation followed by thin-film formation at the trijunction is explored and the effect of physical parameters such as relative humidity, the substrate temperature, initial contact angle, surface roughness, and drop volume are investigated. This study will significantly advance the current understanding of dynamic interaction between molten liquid and cold solid substrates.