Lifting a sessile oil drop from a superamphiphobic surface with an impacting one

Abstract

Colliding drops are encountered in everyday technologies and natural processes, from combustion engines and commodity sprays to raindrops and cloud formation. The outcome of a collision depends on many factors, including the impact velocity and the degree of alignment, and intrinsic properties like surface tension. Yet, little is known on binary impact dynamics of low-surface-tension drops on a low-wetting surface. We investigate the dynamics of an oil drop impacting an identical sessile drop sitting on a superamphiphobic surface. We observe five rebound scenarios, four of which do not involve coalescence. We describe two previously unexplored cases for sessile drop liftoff, resulting from drop-on-drop impact. Numerical simulations quantitatively reproduce the rebound scenarios and enable quantification of velocity profiles, energy transfer, and viscous dissipation. Our results illustrate how varying the offset from head-on alignment and the impact velocity results in controllable rebound dynamics for oil drop collisions on superamphiphobic surfaces.