Charge Transfer During Melting of Dodecane
T. Paillat1, A. Mizuno2, and G. Touchard1
1Electrofluidodynamic Group, P' Institute, University of Poitiers, CNRS, France
2Department of Environmental and Life Sciences, Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan
Abstract- In this paper we relate experiments that we made in order to understand the mechanism of electric charge transfer during the melting of insulating material. For this investigation we chose dodecane because the melting point of this material (-9.4°C) is close to the ambient temperature. Even if the charge transfer observed remains relatively low (in pA order of magnitude) it is possible to measure. We made two kinds of experiments. One, with the liquid melted flowing on the remaining solid part. We repeated these experiments many times with various conditions for freezing the dodecane. In the other kind of experiment, the liquid does not stream on the solid but is at rest in a vessel and surrounding the remaining solid part of dodecane. From the analysis of all the experiments there is no doubt that charge transfer appears during the melting process. These charges probably come from impurities already existing in the dodecane. Then, during the freezing process the different kind of impurities are captured in different places inside the frozen part depending on the conditions of the freezing. Indeed, we observe differences when the dodecane is slowly frozen in a thermostatic bath or rapidly by dipping in liquid nitrogen. Even if several experiments seem to prove that flow electrification is at the origin of the process, it seems that more experiments are needed; especially we must make investigations to determine the charge preexisting in the solid before melting.
Keywords-Charge transfer, melting, flow electrification, insulating liquids