Foam Drainage Control Using Thermocapillary Stress in a Two-Dimensional Microchamber

Vincent Miralles (1) , Bertrand Selva (2) , Isabelle Cantat (3) , Marie-Caroline Jullien (1)

1 MMN - Laboratoire Microfluidique, MEMS, Nanostructures
2 LOF - Laboratoire du Futur
3 IPR - Institut de Physique de Rennes

We investigate the drainage of a 2D microfoam in a vertical Hele-Shaw cell, and show that the Marangoni stress at the air-water interface generated by a constant temperature gradient applied in situ can be tuned to control the drainage. The temperature gradient is applied in such a way that thermocapillarity and gravity have an antagonist e ect. We characterize the drainage over time by measuring the liquid volume fraction in the cell and find that thermocapillarity can overcome the e ect of gravity, e ectively draining the foam towards the top of the cell, or exactly compensate it, maintaining the liquid fraction at its initial value over at least 60 s. We quantify these results by solving the mass balance in the cell, and provide insight on the interplay between gravity, thermocapillarity and capillary pressure governing the drainage dynamics.

Domains: Soft Condensed Matter [cond-mat.soft]

Vincent Miralles, Bertrand Selva, Isabelle Cantat, Marie-Caroline Jullien. Foam Drainage Control Using Thermocapillary Stress in a Two-Dimensional Microchamber. Physical Review Letters, 2014, 112, pp.238302. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.238302⟩. ⟨hal-01006595⟩