A large set of industrial wicks made from sintered polymer beads and fibrous materials were studied. Three types of liquid fronts were observed: sharp, semi-sharp, and diffuse. The bead-like microstructure with lower porosity is found to support sharp fronts, while the aligned-fiber microstructure with higher porosities leads to a smudging/diffusing of the fronts. The previously developed sharp-front model is found to predict the front height as a function of time quite well in the sintered-bead wicks and the two “semi-sharp” fibrous wicks. The liquid-front height calculated from the liquid mass-gain data was validated through visual observations for all but the two fibrous wicks generating the diffuse fronts. These latter cases, observed to start off as a sharp fronts, faded with time.

中文翻译：

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研究工业灯芯中液体自吸过程中的液体前沿。第一部分：实验研究

研究了大量由烧结聚合物珠粒和纤维材料制成的工业灯芯。观察到三种类型的液体前沿：尖锐的、半尖锐的和扩散的。发现具有较低孔隙率的珠状微结构支持锋利的前沿，而具有较高孔隙率的排列纤维微结构导致前沿的污迹/扩散。发现先前开发的锋利锋面模型可以很好地预测烧结珠芯和两个“半锋利”纤维芯中锋面高度随时间的变化。从液体质量增益数据计算出的液体前沿高度通过目视观察得到验证，除了产生扩散前沿的两个纤维灯芯。后一种情况，被观察到开始是锋利的锋面，随着时间的推移逐渐消失。