Evaporating sessile drops remain pinned at the contact line during much of the evaporation process, and leave a ring of residue on the surface upon dryout. The intensive mass loss near the contact line causes solute particles to flow to the edge of the droplet and deposit at the contact line. The high vapor diffusion gradient and the low thermal resistance of the film near the contact line are responsible for very efficient mass transfer in this region. Although heat and mass transfer at the contact line have been extensively studied, well-characterized experiments remain scarce. The local mass transport in a 100-400 microm region near the contact line of a water droplet of radius 1810 microm on a glass substrate is experimentally quantified in the present work. Microparticle image velocimetry measurements of the three-dimensional flow field near the contact line are conducted to map the velocity field. Combined with high-resolution transient liquid profile shapes, the measured velocity field yields transient local evaporative mass fluxes near the contact line. The spatial and temporal distribution of the local evaporative flux is also documented. The temperature distribution in the droplet near the contact line is deduced from the local evaporative fluxes and interface mass transport theory.

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Thin-film evaporation of heptane in a V-groove geometry is experimentally investigated. The groove is made of fused quartz, and electrical heating of a thin layer of titanium coated on the backside of the quartz substrate provides a constant heat flux. The effects of liquid feeding rate on the temperature suppression in the thin-film region and on the meniscus shape are explored. High resolution (∼6.3 μm) infrared thermography is employed to investigate the temperature profile in the thin-film region, while a goniometer is used to image the meniscus shape. An approximate heat balance analysis is used to estimate the fraction of total meniscus heat transfer which takes place in the contact line region.

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Evaporation of ethanol from square packed arrays of 3.95 mm diameter copper spheres in a transparent, enclosed chamber is investigated. The enclosure ensures that relatively saturated vapor conditions exist near the free surface. The desired heat flux is imposed on the copper substrate upon which the copper spheres are mounted, and the liquid level in the bed is maintained by wicking from a continuous supply of liquid provided by a syringe pump.Transparent windows in the enclosure allow for visualization of the evaporating liquid meniscus shape, which is recorded for different liquid feeding rates and heat fluxes. Experimentally measured meniscus profiles are compared to analytical results based on surface-energy minimization. A meniscus microregion is defined from the contact line to the length where the liquid thickness reaches 10 μm. An approximate kinetic theory-based analysis estimates that up to ~55% of the total meniscus mass transfer occurs in this microregion.