Abstract:
The ability to transport and manipulate fluids on the scale of hundreds of microns and smaller has triggered a wide range of scientific investigations and technological applications. One avenue for investigation concerns the manipulation of multiphase flows.

Dr. Stone will present microfluidic experiments illustrating the controlled formation of liquid drops and gas bubbles with attention given to the drop size as function of the flow rate of two fluid phases. Methods for manipulating the drop size distribution will be presented.

The presentation will close by showing how these ideas can be implemented to continuously make drops coated with a close-packed shell of colloidal particles, or colloidal armor, which leads to a material with unusual elastic properties. Technological opportunities for these multiphase systems will be highlighted and basic research questions in fluid mechanics and transport processes will be indicated.