Analysis study on dynamic wetting of water droplets for heat pipe performance enhancement

Abstract

Heat-transfer performance of the heat pipe is determined by dynamic wetting on the wall. In this study, an MD simulation of water droplet spreading on kaolinite wall: a material with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, was conducted. We compared kinematic properties of water molecules near the contact line region when droplet is placed over the hydrophobic surface and the hydrophilic surface. As a result, different mechanisms of water molecules approaching the contact line region in the two cases were observed. The interaction between water molecule and wall was also analyzed in both cases.