Effects of pore morphology and topography on the rate of capillary imbibition in metal porous structures exposed to ambient air

Effects of pore morphology and topography on the rate of capillary imbibition in metal porous structures exposed to ambient air | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effects of pore morphology and topography on the rate of capillary imbibition in metal porous structures exposed to ambient air Delika M. Weragoda, Guohong Tian, Qiong Cai, Steven Hinder, Peter Huang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5146390/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Multiscale and Multidisciplinary Modeling, Experiments and Design → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Capillary imbibition of porous structures is crucial for capillary driven evaporative cooling systems that utilize capillary drive to transport working fluid. Even though the use of working fluids with high surface tension improve the capillary pumping pressure, larger cohesive forces could lead to larger contact angles, if the constituent porous surface renders low surface energy. This study investigates the influence of different pore morphologies and topographies on the wettability transition of several different pore structures when exposed to air, using deionized water as the working fluid. The droplet absorption rates of the porous structures were obtained over a period of 28 days. The samples with larger microscopic pore-scale roughness and lower porosity exhibited greater retention of their wettability over time. The Cu sample with the largest microscopic pore-scale roughness and the lowest porosity maintained its wettability throughout the study period, while the Cu foam, which had the smallest microscopic pore-scale roughness and the largest porosity, lost its wettability within 3 days. The formation of the highly stable oxide layer in Al porous structures restrict further contamination compared to the oxide layer formed on Cu porous structures. Findings provide insights into determining the appropriate grain structures and pore parameters required to minimize the wettability transition of porous metals when designing capillary driven evaporative cooling systems. Capillary imbibition Wettability transition Metal porous structures pore-scale roughness porosity oxidation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 04 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Multiscale and Multidisciplinary Modeling, Experiments and Design → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 27 Nov, 2024 Reviews received at journal 24 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Oct, 2024 Reviews received at journal 03 Oct, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Sep, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Sep, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 25 Sep, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 25 Sep, 2024 First submitted to journal 24 Sep, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5146390","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":383481669,"identity":"52f2cd3a-3099-4032-b270-4a5ac41510ff","order_by":0,"name":"Delika M. 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Even though the use of working fluids with high surface tension improve the capillary pumping pressure, larger cohesive forces could lead to larger contact angles, if the constituent porous surface renders low surface energy. This study investigates the influence of different pore morphologies and topographies on the wettability transition of several different pore structures when exposed to air, using deionized water as the working fluid. The droplet absorption rates of the porous structures were obtained over a period of 28 days. The samples with larger microscopic pore-scale roughness and lower porosity exhibited greater retention of their wettability over time. The Cu sample with the largest microscopic pore-scale roughness and the lowest porosity maintained its wettability throughout the study period, while the Cu foam, which had the smallest microscopic pore-scale roughness and the largest porosity, lost its wettability within 3 days. 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