Discover how the Surface Analyst's unique method of depositing water onto a surface enables precision contact angle measurements on real-world surfaces.
The forces acting on a liquid drop in contact with a surface can be represented as the surface energy of the solid, the surface tension of the liquid, and the energy remaining at the liquid-solid interface after the liquid molecules have interacted with the solid surfaces.
When a drop of liquid is in motionless contact with a surface, all of the forces acting upon the drop must be in equilibrium, and the forces acting in the plane of the surface must sum to zero.
Knowledge of surface energy is important in many industrial processes because of its direct influence on practical adhesion. Surface energies of solids may be measured using several techniques, but the most common method is based on obtaining
contact angle measurements of multiple fluids.