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Quantitative characterization of high molecular weight polymer solutions in microfluidic hyperbolic contraction flow

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Abstract

Nonlinear flows of polyacrylamide (PAAm) (\(M_{\text{w}} = 5.7 \times 10^{6}\,{\text{g}}/{\text{mol}}\)) aqueous solutions through a micro-fabricated, hyperbolic contraction geometry with high Hencky strain (\(\varepsilon_{{\text{H}}} = 3.7\)) have been characterized by micro-particle image velocimetry (\(\mu \)-PIV). Various flow dynamics regimes in a range of Weissenberg number (Wi) and Reynolds number (Re) are presented in a Wi–Re diagram. The symmetric corner vortices are only observed in the flow of low concentration PAAm solution (\(c/c^{*}=3.3\)). In a higher concentration (\(c/c^{*}=8.3\)), PAAm solution exhibits chaotic-like flow patterns in the strong nonlinear flow regime (\(Wi>350\)). Extensional deformation in nonlinear flows of Wi up to 860 has been analyzed. Furthermore, the local stretch experienced by the polymer chain in complex flow is systematically quantified and linked to the corresponding velocity vector fields, which are valuable for understanding the highly nonlinear flow phenomena.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/E032699) and Linkam Scientific Instruments Ltd., and to thank Malcolm Mackley, Jeff Odell, Simon Haward and Sunday Omowunmi for insightful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    Alfredo Lanzaro

  2. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, People’s Republic of China

    Zhuo Li

  3. National Supercomputer Centre in Guangzhou, Research Institute on Application of High Performance Computing, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Xue-Feng Yuan

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  1. Alfredo Lanzaro
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  2. Zhuo Li
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Correspondence to Xue-Feng Yuan.

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Lanzaro, A., Li, Z. & Yuan, XF. Quantitative characterization of high molecular weight polymer solutions in microfluidic hyperbolic contraction flow. Microfluid Nanofluid 18, 819–828 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-014-1474-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-014-1474-z

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