Influence of lateral restraint on thermocapillary migration of wetting droplets

The present study aims at studying the characteristics of thermocapillary migration with varying levels of lateral restraints. A temperature gradient is created by heating and cooling either side of the substrate. When a droplet is placed near hot side it spreads as thin film and migrates towards the cold side. The advancing end assumes the shape of a parabolic rim while the receding end stays as a thin film. It is observed that the droplet decelerates to attain a steady state velocity and undergoes slight acceleration near the cold end of the substrate. The observed velocity trend follows the temperature gradient on the substrate. The velocity increases with the droplet volume and substrate temperature gradient. The liquid viscosity is observed to have a diminishing effect on migration velocity. The effect of lateral spread confinement is studied by performing experimental trails on substrates with different widths. It is found that reducing the substrate width increases the migration velocity due to increased footprint resulting in larger thermocapillary force. The results observed in the present study highlights the importance of thermocapillary flows in many academic and industrial applications.