Experimental investigation of liquid metal droplet flow affected by a time-dependent magnetic field

Abstract The present study investigates experimentally the effects of a time-dependent and spatially inhomogeneous magnetic field on liquid metal droplet flow down an inclined substrate. The flow is solely excited by the electromagnetic interactions between the electrically conducting melt and the applied magnetic field. The metal droplet consists of the eutectic alloy GaInSn which is liquid at room temperature. The magnetic field is generated in the gap between two metallic disks that are equipped with a special geometric arrangement of permanent magnets and put into a measured rotation. During the experiments, a droplet of a measured volume is positioned on an electrically non-conducting substrate that is slightly inclined against the horizontal direction. Droplet and substrate are placed in between the two rotating magnetic disks. In our experiments, we record the electromagnetically excited flow of the droplet downwards onto the substrate using a high-speed camera system. Applying standard techniques of digital image processing, we measure both the displacement position and velocity of the droplet as a function of time. We observe that, depending on the rotation rate of the disks and angle of inclination, the magnetic field eventually triggers this spreading process. In more detail, by evaluating the recorded data, we find that the magnetic field excites capillary waves at the free surface of the droplet. These surface waves contribute to a redistribution of volume towards the contact line formed at the downward-facing end tip of the droplet. This mode of transport steepens the contact angle, allowing the droplet to move. Besides the fundamental aspect of this work, the present study may contribute to the electromagnetic control of both the production of metallic microfibers and metallurgic coating processes as well as to the non-contact electromagnetic flow measurement technique of Lorentz force velocimetry applied to liquid metal free-surface flows.