• Energy Research

Significance Heating, vaporization, and mixing of fuel droplets through spraying is an integral process in thermal energy production. Staged atomization through self-induced droplet secondary microexplosion, attainable for multicomponent fuel mixtures with optimized volatility and miscibility properties, offers potential for improved atomization characteristics. This work comprehensively investigates the boiling process of a ternary drop, which initially is in the Leidenfrost state over a superheated surface, from the initial emergence of a second phase through self-encapsulation and, finally, microexplosion of the drop. The work exemplifies the richness of phenomena which can occur in multicomponent drop systems with phase transition.