In the process of modern aluminum electrolysis industry, the adhesion of high temperature liquid aluminum to the inner wall of aluminum electrolysis cell and lifting package will seriously affect the aluminum electrolysis capacity and environmental pollution.<br/>In this paper, the volume of fluid (VOF) model is applied to numerically study the impact process of molten aluminum droplet on the bionic structured surface, the dynamic behavior of molten aluminum droplet impact on the surface with pillars under different impact velocity and surface structures are investigated. The simulation results show that, the micro-convex structure can effectively increase the contact angle between molten aluminum and the surface. Due to the existence of micro-convex structure, the contact between droplets and the surface will produce two different states: Cassie and Wenzel. High impact velocity will significantly increase the spreading area and lead the impact turn to Wenzel state. A larger intrinsic contact angle can increase the wetting pressure of the droplets and reduces the impact velocity for the impalement transition. The bounce height of droplets after contact is affected by the intrinsic contact angle and the height of pillar structures on the surface. When the intrinsic contact angle is large, even the droplets in Wenzel state can rebound. A shorter pillar is beneficial for bounce droplets in Wenzel state, while is not conducive to maintaining Cassie state.<br/>The simulation results of molten aluminum droplet impact on micro-convex surface are helpful to understand the influence of micro-convex structure on the adhesion of molten aluminum, and provide a theoretical reference for the realization of anti-adhesion of molten aluminum in aluminum electrolysis industry.

Numerical simulation of molten aluminum droplet impact on the structured surface

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