Research Article

Emulsion Droplet Pair Coalescence under a Direct Current Electric Field

Figure 7

(a) Change in the capillary pressure with a coalesced droplet stretching at different droplet pair radius ratios. Coalesced droplet becomes unstable if . (b) Critical electric capillary number for the onset of instability of the coalesced droplet at different droplet pair radius ratios. Blue open diamond symbols show stable complete coalescence whereas red crossed diamond symbols show unstable coalescence. Here, a solid line is obtained from equation (9) depicting the onset of unstable coalescence. Open and crossed symbols are simulation results for the castor oil droplet pair coalescence in the silicone oil. A reasonably good agreement is observed between theory and simulations.
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