Experimental Study of Surfactant Transfer in Fluid Systems in Microgravity Conditions

Paper number

IAC-08.A2.4.9

Author

Prof. Antonio Viviani, Seconda Universita' di Napoli, Italy

Coauthor

Dr. K.G. Kostarev, Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics, UB Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Coauthor

Dr. A.V. Shmyrov, Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics, UB Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

Coauthor

Dr. V.L. Levtov, Central Research Institute of Machine Building (FSUE/TSNIIMASH), Russia

Coauthor

Mr. Vladislav V. Romanov, Russia

Year

2008

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the space experiment studying the process of surfactant dissolution from a binary fluid drop in microgravity conditions. The experiment was performed during the recent flight of the space satellite “Foton M-3” (Sept.2008). 
Investigation of the surfactant diffusion was made using a new original setup based on the interferometric method. The experimental cuvette represented a thin Hele Show cell filled with water, which surrounded a drop in the form of a short liquid cylinder with a free lateral surface. The drop consisted of a binary mixture, in which one of the components was the surfactant (namely, isopropyl alcohol) easily dissolved in water.
The use of interferometry made it possible to visualize the structures of the surfactant distributions and flows and investigate the evolution of them in the drop and the surrounding liquid. The characteristic stages of the dissolution process were identified, and the rate of the concentration front propagation was defined. It was shown that in microgravity conditions the process of surfactant diffusion through the interface did not initiate an intensive solutal Marangoni convection as contrasted to the case of terrestrial simulation. The observed phenomenon has its origins in the long-lived fields of surfactant concentration formed near the interface due to the absence of the gravitational mechanisms of motion and large characteristic times of admixture diffusion which are hundreds of time longer than the times of thermal diffusion. 

Abstract document

IAC-08.A2.4.9.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.A2.4.9.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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