Investigation of chemical reaction during sodium alginate drop impact on calcium chloride film

The objective of this work is to study the chemical reaction between sodium alginate drop and calcium chloride film and instantaneous formation of calcium alginate gel. The complexity of this work is the simultaneous effect of both liquid and solid surface on drop impact gelation process. The sodium alginate concentration in the drop fluid, liquid film thickness, and drop impingement height are varied and the observations are captured using a high speed camera. Several interesting phenomena like splashing and jet break up occur depending on the drop impingement velocity, drop concentration, and film thickness. Crosslinking reaction and mixing mechanisms are schematically explained accounting the role of capillary wave propagation within the liquid film. A mathematical model on drop spreading on the solid surface after penetrating the liquid film is developed to predict the theoretical gel length for ultrathin and thin film regimes. Maximum spreading diameter of the drop postimpact on the liquid film is predicted from the model. However, the experimentally measured solidified gel length deviates from the theoretical values and these deviations are utilized to measure the rate of crosslinking gelation and instantaneous solidification. Different hydrodynamic parameters such as the crater depth, crater contact time, and crater dissipation energy are evaluated for the dynamics of gelation. Finally, the kinetics of gelation with the variation of liquid film thickness are determined for alginate drop concentrations and drop impingement heights.