Experimental study on measurement of tangential momentum accommodation coefficient in microtube

Along with the progress in micro- and nano-technologies, such as Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and μ-TAS (Micro-Total Analysis Systems), the Knudsen number, which is a non dimensional parameter for rarefaction, of the flow around and inside the systems becomes large. In such high Knudsen number flows, gas-surface interaction has become important for flow field analyses. To illustrate overall gas-surface interaction without any detailed processes, an accommodation coefficient, α, is the most widely used as an empirical parameter for a practical purpose. One of accommodation coefficients, the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient (TMAC) α_t, is in closely related to the loss of the pressure through a micro channel. Therefore, TMAC is an important coefficient for flow inside micro/nano fluidic devices. To obtain TMAC from experiments, the mass flow rate measurements in a microtube were carried out using the constant volume method. The results obtained from the experiments were analyzed in frame of the Navier-Stokes equation associated with the second order velocity slip boundary condition. The mean Knudsen number was less than 0.3, where the velocity slip boundary condition is applicable. From the mass flow rates, the slip coefficient of the boundary condition was obtained, and then, TMAC was determined. The experimental apparatus showed very low leakage rate, and TMAC was determined with a high degree of accuracy. The TMACs of the same surface material with different dimensional parameters were compared for validation of the system.