Electrostatic Atomization,

Studies of the instabilities in liquids produced by electric surface charges date back to the experiments of Lord Raleigh on charged pendant drops. Since then much work has been carried out on the breakup of liquids into jets or isolated drops, the stresses caused by electric fields and the subsequent disintegration of the drops. However, only now has a real understanding of the basic mechanisms involved begun to emerge. Electrostatic Atomization collects all these phenomena and a critical review of the present theoretical analysis into one compact text. The book starts with a discussion of the basic properties of liquids including the different behaviours of polar and nonpolar liquids, and the effects of applied AC and DC fields. Special attention is paid to the phenomena which occur at the liquid-solid and liquid-gas interfaces. Considerations of the mechanism of charge injection and the instabilities at surfaces form the basis for a discussion of the prebreakdown conditions. A careful comparison of theoretical predictions and experimental results for jets and drops generated in electric fields is made. This technique is then compared with mechanical methods for the atomization of jets. The drop sizes produced by the two processes are quite different and it is this that makes the electrospray process particularly important in some applications. One chapter concentrates on the closely related problems of the breakup of isolated drops and the charges produced - which are of particular interest in meteorology. The book concludes with a comprehensive discussion of applications including the atomization of liquid fuels, the colloid thruster and the preparation of thin-film deposits. Electrostatic Atomization will be of great interest to physicists, chemists, applied mathematicians and engineers of senior undergraduate level upwards who are interested in atomization and the breakup of jets and drops.
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