Investigating liquid fronts during spontaneous imbibition of liquids in industrial wicks. Part I: Experimental studies

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Abstract
A large set of industrial wicks made from sintered polymer beads and fibrous materials were studied. Three types of liquid fronts were observed: sharp, semi‐sharp, and diffuse. The bead‐like microstructure with lower porosity is found to support sharp fronts, while the aligned‐fiber microstructure with higher porosities leads to a smudging/diffusing of the fronts. The previously developed sharp‐front model is found to predict the front height as a function of time quite well in the sintered‐bead wicks and the two “semi‐sharp” fibrous wicks. The liquid‐front height calculated from the liquid mass‐gain data was validated through visual observations for all but the two fibrous wicks generating the diffuse fronts. These latter cases, observed to start off as a sharp fronts, faded with time.

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