Low thermal conductivity substrate accelerates droplet evaporation in transition boiling regime: An abnormal Leidenfrost phenomenon

We investigate droplet evaporation on heater surface with different thermal conductivities. The complete droplet evaporation curves are obtained using the phase change lattice Boltzmann model, including four regimes of film evaporation, nucleate boiling, transition and Leidenfrost. Three thermal conductivities of substrate heater (As) are paid attention. We found that higher As does not always accelerate droplet evaporation. In the regimes excluding transition regime and Leidenfrost regime, higher As increases droplet evaporation rate. However, in transition regime, lower As enhances droplet evaporation, explained by that lower As triggers second contact of droplet and heater and decreases vapor film thickness underneath droplet. Detailed droplet characteristic features including droplet spreading diameter, projected diameter of suspended drop, and vapor thickness in transition boiling regime are investigated in detail. The droplet oscillation in vertical direction during transition boiling for low thermal conductivity heater is found numerically for the first time. We conclude that low thermal conductivity material is benefit for heat transfer improvement due to the triggering of second contact (TSC) between droplet and solid surface.

Automated summary

We investigated droplet evaporation on heater surfaces with different thermal conductivities using the phase change lattice Boltzmann model. The evaporation curves revealed four regimes: film evaporation, nucleate boiling, transition, and Leidenfrost. We found that higher thermal conductivity does not always accelerate droplet evaporation. In transition regime, lower thermal conductivity enhances droplet evaporation by triggering the second contact between droplet and heater.