Group Members: Jing Shi
Project Title
Evaporative Drying of Droplets and the Formation of Microstructured
and Functional Particles and Films
Research Outline
Focussing on ink-jet printing, the drying process and deposition patterns of Newtonian droplets of a colloidal suspension on a substrate will be studied. High speed imaging and PIV methods will be used to analyse the drying process and measure convection and transport during this period. The fractal character of aggregates will be determined by SEM and methods developed to control particle distribution on the substrate, possibly including smart coatings. For the purpose of ink-jet printing a uniform deposit is desired so efforts will be made to reduce and control the ‘coffee ring’ effect seen in drying colloidal suspensions.