Efficient coalescence of two spreading drops

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Liquid drop coalescence is a ‘mass transfer’ process between two miscible liquid drops after being brought in the vicinity of each other. This can be observed in both natural (rain drops and condensation of dew) and artificially engineered processes (film growth, inkjet printing, spraying, etc.). Controlled drop coalescence of simultaneously spreading drops is a crucial aspect for a number of applications as mentioned above. Coalescence dynamics in such applications dictates the efficient mass transfer between two spreading drops, and inefficient coalescence of spreading drops may result in several undesirable effects such as longer printing time, overuse of printing ink and wastage and spillage of environmentally hazardous liquids (up to ~50%) during spraying of pesticides or de-icing of planes. In order to significantly reduce such losses, in this research program the precise way to control the drop coalescence on the substrate is provided.