Xiaoyu Tang
Northeastern University, MA·Engineering·Early-career
When a drop hits a surface, it can spread, splash, bounce or soak in. This happens with raindrops on soil and with sprays in spray coating and inkjet printing.
- Fields
Engineering
Physics
Materials Science
- Topics
droplet impact
complex fluids
suspensions
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Apr 2030
What they work on
- Build an experimental platform that combines several advanced diagnostic methods to resolve flow, stress and particle concentration inside complex-fluid droplets as they hit surfaces, including opaque particle suspensions.
- Determine how flow and particle fields in suspension drops shape impact outcome, cavity formation and jamming, where packed particles lock up, to support predictive models.
- Identify through theoretical analysis the critical conditions for controlled release of ink embedded in a liquid crystal film when it is struck by a droplet.
- Measure experimentally how the Weber number, which compares a drop's inertia to its surface tension, controls impact-induced ink release, to guide liquid crystal film design for printing viscous polymers.
More about the research
Real industrial drops often carry particles or other materials, which makes their behavior hard to predict. The research studies how complex fluids behave when drops strike surfaces. It also uses drop impact as a tool for a new kind of printing.
Why it matters
Better prediction of how particle-laden drops hit surfaces could improve industrial processes such as spray coating. A printing method that releases ink from liquid crystal films could let manufacturers print viscous materials, including conducting polymers. These materials are used in organic electronics for sensors and wearable devices, which could benefit the healthcare and energy sectors.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Shyam Menon
Louisiana State University, LA·Engineering·Early-career
Measure unsteady drag and heat transfer on single particles suddenly accelerated in a shock tube, using particle motion and temperature measurements to evaluate existing models.
Zhi Liang
Missouri University of Science and Technology, MO·Engineering
Use molecular dynamics simulations to determine how liquid surface tension, viscosity, nanoparticle size, shape and impact speed each affect what happens when a nanoparticle strikes a liquid surface.
Olivier Desjardins
Cornell University, NY·Engineering
Develop a piecewise-quadratic interface representation that captures liquid sheets and ligaments thinner than one simulation grid cell, so that computers can predict when and how liquids break apart.
The school
Northeastern University: 27 labs on PI Pages, $347M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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