2021/10/20 by Carine Huon, Huon, C., A. Tiwari +7 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · #Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Sports Dynamics and Biomechanics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2110.10776
openalex publication_date 2021/10/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study the leakage of fluids (liquids or gases) in syringes with glass barrel, steel plunger and rubber O-ring stopper. The leakrate depends on the interfacial surface roughness and on the viscoelastic properties of the rubber. Random surface roughness is produced by sandblasting the rubber O-rings. We present a very simple theory for gas flow which takes into account both the diffusive and ballistic flow. The theory shows that the interfacial fluid flow (leakage) channels are so narrow that the gas flow is mainly ballistic (the so called Knudsen limit). We compare the leakrate obtained using air and helium. For barrels filled with water we observe no leakage even if leakage occurs for gases. We interpret this as resulting from capillary (Laplace pressure or surface energy) effects.