Water jet rebounds on hydrophobic surfaces: a first step to jet micro-fluidics

When a water jet impinges upon a solid surface it produces a so called hydraulic jump that everyone can observe in the sink of their kitchen. It is characterized by a thin liquid sheet bounded by a circular rise of the surface due to capillary and gravitational forces. In this phenomenon, the impact induces a geometrical transition, from the cylindrical one of the jet to the bi-dimensional one of the film. A true jet rebound on a solid surface, for which the cylindrical geometry is preserved, has never been yet observed. Here we experimentally demonstrate that a water jet can impact a solid surface without being destabilized. Depending on the incident angle of the impinging jet, its velocity and the degree of hydrophobicity of the substrate, the jet can (i) bounce on the surface with a fixed reflected angle, (ii) land on it and give rise to a supported jet or (iii) be destabilized, emitting drops. Capillary forces are predominant at the sub-millimetric jet scale considered in this work, along with the hydrophobic nature of the substrate. The results presented in this communication raise the fundamental question of knowing why such capillary hydraulic jump gives rise to this unexpected jet rebound phenomenon. This study furthermore offers new and promising possibilities to handle a small quantity of water through jet microfluidics