Frontal impingement of nanojets: Formation, disintegration and mixing of nano liquid sheets

We investigate nano liquid sheets formed by frontal impingement of two cylindrical nanojets using the molecular dynamics method. The results show that only with a high enough velocity can a stable liquid sheet be formed because of the strong surface tension effect in nanoscale. In relatively low jet velocity range, the relationship between the intact sheet radius and the jet velocity takes on the power function form with the power being - 0.502. This relationship is explained by considering the thermal fluctuation effect, thus confirming the dominating role of the thermal fluctuation effect in the disintegration process. The influence of the jet velocity on the time-domain evolution of mixing of the system and the spatial mixing distribution of the liquid sheet are also investigated. Our results suggest that nanojets do not coalesce at the impingement point, the mixing occurs mainly through diffusion. And there is recoil that happens at the stagnation plane.