Droplet impact and spreading on lecithinated anhydrous milkfat surfaces Original Research Article

Droplet impact and spreading is an important phenomenon that contributes to the quality of the coatings applied to food powders in air-suspension coating operations. This work investigates the dynamics of spreading 2.8 mm droplets containing maltodextrin DE5 at 20 wt% and 40 wt% in water, at an impact velocity of 2.6 m s−1. The impact surface was anhydrous milkfat which was treated with three food-grade lecithin products to alter the surface hydrophobicity. Results were analysed with respect to the maximum spread diameter achieved ∼2 ms after impact and the final spread diameter achieved 2–4 s later. Lecithination of the surface did not affect the maximum spread diameter but resulted in greater final spread diameters. This is because lecithination reduces the equilibrium contact angle of the droplet on the surface. However, addition of lecithin to the droplet produced the same final spread diameters regardless of the surface treatment. This has the processing advantage where only the coating formulation need be manipulated to obtain the best spreading characteristics and avoid the extra processing step to modify the chemical characteristics of the substrate surface.