The effect of wettability on the infiltration behavior in the liquid composite molding process has not been fully studied, and the available evidence appears to be conflicting. Based on the three-dimensional microcomputed tomography images of porous media, a series of immiscible displacement simulations under a wide range of wettability conditions was established by the phase field method. Interestingly, we found that increasing the affinity of the porous matrix for the invading fluid can increase the displacement efficiency and reduce the void content until the critical wetting transition is reached, beyond which the displacement efficiency decreases sharply. The nonmonotonic behavior of the wettability effect can be explained by the competition among complex and intriguing pore-scale displacement events, mainly involving the Haines jump, cooperative pore filling, and corner flow. These novel findings provide a theoretical basis for extracting the optimal wettability range, thus minimizing the void content formed during the liquid infiltration process.

Hydraulic tortuosity is one of the key parameters used to characterize the fluid transport properties of porous media. One of the existing debates on hydraulic tortuosity is whether it is an intrinsic property or a correction factor to match the experimental data with a particular model. In this study, a series of immiscible displacement simulations with different capillary numbers and contact angles were established by using the phase field method based on three-dimensional micro-computed tomography images of porous media. Then, the vector-based tortuosity method based on the flow velocity field is used to predict the dynamic evolution of hydraulic tortuosity of unsaturated porous media. Interestingly, the transient hydraulic tortuosity at different flow displacement patterns shows different dynamic evolutions where the quasi-steady-state hydraulic tortuosity is related to both the fluid saturation and the characteristics of the trapped voids in the porous media. These phenomena can be explained by the complex and interesting pore-scale displacement events, including viscous self-correcting smoothing, noncooperative Haines jumps, capillary self-correcting smoothing, and corner flow.

Online monitoring and real-time feedback on inclusions in molten metal are essential for metal quality control. However, existing methods for detecting aluminum melt inclusions face challenges, including interference, prolonged processing times, and latency. This paper presents the design and development of an online monitoring system for molten metal inclusions. Initially, the system facilitates real-time adjustment of signal acquisition parameters through a multiplexer. Subsequently, it employs a detection algorithm capable of swiftly extracting pulse peaks, with this task integrated into our proprietary host computer software to ensure timely detection and data visualization. Ultimately, we developed a monitoring device integrated with this online monitoring system, enabling the online monitoring of the aluminum alloy filtration process. Our findings indicate that the system can accurately measure the size and concentration of inclusions during the filtration process in real time, offering enhanced detection speed and stability compared to the industrial LiMCA CM (liquid metal cleanliness analyzer continuous monitoring) standard. Furthermore, our evaluation of the filtration process demonstrates that the effectiveness of filtration significantly improves with the increase in inclusion sizes, and the synergistic effect of combining CFF (ceramic foam filter) and MCF (metallics cartridge filter) filtration methods exceeds the performance of the CFF method alone. This system thus provides valuable technical support for optimizing filtration processes and controlling inclusion quality.

A Lorentz force particle analyzer (LFPA) is a device for the contactless measurement of micron-sized particles in electrically conducting fluids. The LFPA is based on the measurement of either force or torque changes acting upon a magnetic-generating system when the particle passes near a magnetic field. In this paper, we first formulate the theory of the LFPA using a magnetic dipole with a magnetic field penetrating a particle-laden thin fluid flow layer. The disturbed electromagnetic quantities in the presence of a particle are analytically solved using an approach analogous to that for potential flow, providing a relationship between the measured physical quantities, i.e., force, torque and induced magnetic field, and the particle size. A detailed investigation of physical properties and operating parameters provides a rational framework for predicting the sensitivity of LFPAs in laboratory experiments and in industrial practice.