The rest time of drops coalescing at a fluid interface under ac/dc electric fields is investigated with high-speed photography. We show that the rest time consists of two stages dominated by deformation and drainage. Previous models predict a single stage process, dependent only on the electric field magnitude; our experiments show that frequency is also important. Initially, the drop begins to deform once the electric field in the gap between the drop and fluid bulk reaches a critical value; afterward, the rest time depends only on the interfacial fluid film drainage and is inversely proportional to electric field strength.
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