Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Scaling the formation of slug bubbles in microfluidic flow-focusing devices

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Microfluidics and Nanofluidics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study aims at scaling the formation of slug bubbles in flow-focusing microfluidic devices using a high-speed digital camera and a micro particle image velocimetry (μ-PIV) system. Experiments were conducted in two different polymethyl methacrylate square microchannels of respectively 600 × 600 and 400 × 400 μm. N2 bubbles were generated in glycerol–water mixtures with several concentrations of surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate. The influence of gas and liquid flow rates, the viscosity of the liquid phase and the width of the microchannel on the bubble size were explored. The bubble size was correlated as a function of the width of the microchannel W c, the ratio of the gas/liquid flow rates Q g/Q l and the liquid Reynolds number. During the pinch-off stage, the variation of the minimum width of the gaseous thread W m with the remaining time could be scaled as \( W_{\text{m}} \propto ({\frac{{Q_{\text{g}} }}{{Q_{\text{l}} }}})^{ - 0.15} (T - t)^{1/3} . \) The velocity fields in the liquid phase around the thread, determined by μ-PIV measurements, were obtained around a forming bubble to reveal the role of the liquid phase.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

Q g :

Gas volumetric flow rate, mm3 s−1

Q l :

Liquid volumetric flow rate, mm3 s−1

L :

Bubble length, μm

l o :

Orifice length between the junction and the exit chamber, μm

T :

Bubble formation period, ms

t :

Time, ms

u :

Average liquid flow velocity, m s−1

u m :

Characteristic two-phase flow velocity, m s−1

V :

Bubble volume, m3

W c :

Microchannel width, μm

W g :

Microchannel width for gas inlet, μm

W l :

Microchannel width for liquid inlet, μm

W m :

Maximum (when the neck radius is greater than the microchannel width) or minimum (when the neck radius is smaller than the microchannel width) width of the gaseous thread, μm

W o :

Width of orifice between the junction and the exit chamber, μm

W out :

Width of out chamber, μm

μ :

Viscosity, mPa s

ρ :

Density, kg m−3

σ :

Surface tension, mN m−1

θ :

Angle between the gas and liquid inducing channel °

Re :

Liquid Reynolds number, (= ρuW c/μ)

g :

Gas

l :

Liquid

References

  • Burton JC, Waldrep R, Taborek P (2005) Scaling and instabilities in bubble pinch-off. Phys Rev Lett 94:184502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cubaud T, Tatineni M, Zhong X, Ho CM (2005) Bubble dispenser in microfluidic devices. Phys Rev E 72:037302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietrich N, Poncin S, Midoux N, Li HZ (2008) Bubble formation dynamics in various flow-focusing microdevices. Langmuir 24:13904–13911

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dollet B, van Hoeve W, Raven JP, Marmottant P, Versluis M (2008) Role of the channel geometry on the bubble pinch-off in flow-focusing devices. Phys Rev Lett 100:034504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figeys D, Pinto D (2000) Lab-on-a-chip: a revolution in biological and medical sciences. Anal Chem 72:330–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank X, Funfschilling D, Midoux N, Li HZ (2006) Bubbles in a viscous liquid: lattice Boltzmann simulation and experimental validation. J Fluid Mech 546:113–122

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Fu T, Ma Y, Funfschilling D, Li HZ (2009) Bubble formation and breakup mechanism in a microfluidic flow-focusing device. Chem Eng Sci 64:2392–2400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gañán-Calvo AM, Gordillo JM (2001) Perfectly monodisperse microbubbling by capillary flow focusing. Phys Rev Lett 87:274501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garstecki P, Gitlin I, Diluzio W, Kumacheva E, Stone HA, Whitesides GM (2004) Formation of monodisperse bubbles in a microfluidic flow-focusing device. Appl Phys Lett 85:2649–2651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garstecki P, Stone HA, Whitesides GM (2005) Mechanism for flow-rate controlled breakup in confined geometries: a route to monodisperse emulsions. Phys Rev Lett 94:164501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garstecki P, Fuerstman MJ, Stone HA, Whitesides GM (2006) Formation of droplets and bubbles in a microfluidic T-junction: scaling and mechanism of break-up. Lab Chip 6:437–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Go JS, Shoji S (2003) Digital sorting of flow-through droplet phase microfluid. Jpn J Appl Phys 42:448–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordillo JM, Cheng Z, Ganan-Calvo AM, Marquez M, Weitz DA (2004) A new device for the generation of microbubbles. Phys Fluids 16:2828–2834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Günther A, Jhunjhunwala M, Thalmann M, Schmidt MA, Jensen KF (2005) Micromixing of miscible liquids in segmented gas–liquid flow. Langmuir 21:1547–1555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong Y, Wang F (2007) Flow rate effect on droplet control in a co-flowing microfluidic device. Microfluid Nanofluidics 3:341–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen MJ, Stone HA, Bruus H (2006) A numerical study of two-phase stokes flow in an axisymmetric flow-focusing device. Phys Fluids 18:077103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreutzer MT, Kapteijn F, Moulijn JA, Heiszwolf JJ (2005) Multiphase monolith reactors: chemical reaction engineering of segmented flow in microchannels. Chem Eng Sci 60:5895–5916

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lao KL, Wang JH, Lee GB (2009) A microfluidic platform for formation of double-emulsion droplets. Microfluid Nanofluidics. doi:10.1007/s10404-009-0430-9

  • Li HZ, Mouline Y, Midoux N (2002) Modelling the bubble formation dynamics in non-Newtonian fluids. Chem Eng Sci 57:339–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Litterst C, Metz T, Zengerle R, Koltay P (2008) Static and dynamic behavior of gas bubbles in T-shaped non-clogging micro-channels. Microfluid Nanofluidics 5:775–784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skurtys O, Bouchon P, Aguilera JM (2008) Formation of bubbles and foams in gelatine solutions within a vertical glass tube. Food Hydrocolloid 22:706–714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Song H, Chen DL, Ismagilov RF (2006) Reactions in droplets in microfluidic channels. Angew Chem 45:7336–7356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Steijn V, Kreutzer MT, Kleijn CR (2007) μ-PIV study of the formation of segmented flow in microfluidic T-junctions. Chem Eng Sci 62:7505–7514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang K, Lu YC, Xu JH, Tan J, Luo GS (2008) Liquid–liquid micro-dispersion in a double-pore T-shaped microfluidic device. Microfluid Nanofluidics. doi:10.1007/s10404-008-0332-2

  • Weber MW, Shandas R (2007) Computational fluid dynamics analysis of microbubble formation in microfluidic flow-focusing devices. Microfluid Nanofluidics 3:195–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiong R, Bai M, Chung JN (2007) Formation of bubbles in a simple co-flowing micro-channel. J Micromech Microeng 17:1002–1011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu JH, Li SW, Chen GG, Luo GS (2006) Formation of monodisperse microbubbles in a microfluidic device. AIChE J 52:2254–2259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan D, Yang C, Nguyen NT, Huang X (2007) Diagnosis of transient electrokinetic flow in microfluidic channels. Phys Fluids 19:017114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yasuno M, Sugiura S, Iwamoto S, Nakajima M, Shono A, Satoh K (2004) Monodispersed microbubble formation using microchannel technique. AIChE J 50:3227–3233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yen BKH, Günther A, Schmidt MA, Jensen KF, Bawendi MG (2005) A microfabricated gas–liquid segmented flow reactor for high-temperature synthesis: the case of CdSe quantum dots. Angew Chem 44:5447–5451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu Z, Hemminger O, Fan L-S (2007) Experiment and lattice Boltzmann simulation of two-phase gas–liquid flows in microchannels. Chem Eng Sci 62:7172–7183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Tumarkin E, Peerani R, Nie Z, Sullan RMA, Walker GC, Kumacheva E (2006) Microfluidic production of biopolymer microcapsules with controlled morphology. J Am Chem Soc 128:12205–12210

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The financial support for this project from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No 20876107), the aid of Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (Grant No SKL-ChE-08B06) and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (Grant No B06006) are gratefully acknowledged. T. Fu appreciates the financial aid from both the China Scholarship Council and the French Embassy in China.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Taotao Fu & Youguang Ma

  2. Laboratoire des Sciences du Génie Chimique, CNRS, Nancy-Université, 1, rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001, Nancy Cedex, France

    Taotao Fu, Denis Funfschilling & Huai Z. Li

Authors
  1. Taotao Fu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Denis Funfschilling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Youguang Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Huai Z. Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huai Z. Li.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fu, T., Funfschilling, D., Ma, Y. et al. Scaling the formation of slug bubbles in microfluidic flow-focusing devices. Microfluid Nanofluid 8, 467–475 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0471-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0471-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation