Abstract
We experimentally investigate the evaporation characteristics of water droplet on surfaces of various wettabilities in the range of contact angle from 30$^{circ}$ to 150$^{circ}$. When a liquid droplet on a solid surface evaporates, the contact angle generally decreases with time and the evaporation rate varies with the droplet geometry such as the contact angle and the radius of curvature. Experimental data on the contact angle as a function of the droplet volume obtained by digital image analysis techniques cannot be explained by the existing theories. By measuring the temporal evolutions of the droplet radius and contact angle, we find the qualitative difference between the evaporation patterns on the hydrophilic surfaces where the contact radius remains constant initially and those on the superhydrophobic surfaces where the contact angle remains constant. Also, the evaporation rate is observed to depend on the surface material although the currently available models assume that the rate is solely determined by the droplet geometry. Despite the fact that the theory to explain this dependence on the surface remains to be pursued by the future work, we give the empirical relations that can be used to predict the droplet volume evolution for each surface. It is expected that the present study will contribute to interpreting the effect of droplet geometry on the evaporation.
