Infiltration and Dimensional Scaling of Inkjet Droplets on Thick Isotropic Porous Materials

Abstract

We study the imbibition of picoliters (pL) sized inkjet droplets on controlled pore glass membranes (CPG). We do so using a variety of liquids, i.e., water, formamide and diiodomethane, as well as the CPG substrates, and measure the evolution of the imbibition process using high speed digital imaging. Here, experiments were conducted with a wide range of initial drop volume (100–600 pL) on 2–280 nm CPG membranes. We derive scaling laws through dimensional analysis of the equations of motion, and consider experimental parameters and liquid properties.