Impact behavior of mercury droplet

In order to examine the impact behavior of mercury, which is an important key-issue in a facility for high intensity neutron sources, the falling and colliding profiles of mercury droplets were recorded by high-speed video recorder. The impact force was also measured using an elastic bar glued to a strain gage. The falling mercury droplet oscillated and the profile changed from a longitudinal ellipsoid to a transverse one, repeatedly. The regathering and jumping of mercury at the collision point on the impact face of the target were observed after impact because of the strong surface tension of mercury. The impact force of mercury was in proportion to the impact velocities and the square root of the potential energy as a solid steel ball. The non-dimensional-duration-time K that obtained experimentally is independent of the impact velocity and the size of the droplet.