Effect of solidification on drop fragmentation in liquid-liquid media

This paper presents results of experimental and analytical investigation on molten alloy drop fragmentation in water pool. Emphasis is directed toward s delineating the roles which melt to coolant heat transfer and melt solidi fication play in the fragmentation process. The strong impact of coolant te mperature upon fragmentation process is addressed. A set of 23 drop fragmen tation experiments were performed, in which 8 experiments employed a low me lting point alloy, cerrobend-70 and 15 experiments using Pb-Bi eutectic all oy as drop fluid. The results show strong impact of coolant temperature on particle size distribution of the fragmented drops. A linear stability anal ysis of the interface between the two liquid fluids with thin crust growing between them, is performed. A modified dimensionless Aeroelastic number, f or Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, is obtained and used as a criteria for fra gmentation of molten drops penetrating into another liquid coolant media wi th lower temperature. The nondimensionalized mean diameter of the fragmente d particles is correlated with the Aeroelastic number.