2011 Volume 6 Issue 6 Pages 802-811
The flow properties of several types of liquid passing through various sizes of micro-orifices were investigated in this paper. The jet thrust and pressure drops were measured for two polyethylene glycol solutions and four surfactant solutions. Different flow properties were found for the various surfactant solutions depending on the charge of the solute. For an anionic surfactant, the results were similar to those for water, whereas in the case of a cationic surfactant, both the jet thrust and pressure decreased greatly in comparison with the other test liquids. Finally, a nonionic surfactant exhibited a steep rise in the pressure drop at a particular value of the Reynolds number. In explaining this behavior, the liquid-solid interface and alignment of the surfactant molecules are considered, and consequently, it is strongly suggested that the elastic stress on elongational flows is a contributing factor. In addition, the decreases in pressure and thrust for polyethylene glycols are attributed to viscoelastic properties, regardless of the molecular weight of PEG.
