Capillary forces contact angle

Because ceramic powders usually have macropores, mercury porosimetry is more suitable than gas adsorption. The principle of the technique is the phenomenon of capillary rise, as shown schematically in Fig. 4.4 [19]. When a liquid wets the walls of a narrow capillary, with contact angle, 9 < 90°, it will climb up the walls of the capillary. If the liquid does not wet the walls of a capillary, with contact angle, 9 > 90°, it will be depressed. When a nonwetting liquid is used, it is necessary to force the liquid to flow up the capillary to the level of the reservoir by applying a pressure. For a capillary with principal radii of curvature rj and r2 in two orthogonal directions, the pressure can be obtained by using the Young and Laplace equation ... 

For some types of wetting more than just the contact angle is involved in the basic mechanism of the action. This is true in the laying of dust and the wetting of a fabric since in these situations the liquid is required to penetrate between dust particles or between the fibers of the fabric. TTie phenomenon is related to that of capillary rise, where the driving force is the pressure difference across the curved surface of the meniscus. The relevant equation is then Eq. X-36,... 

The Washburn equation has most recently been confirmed for water and cyclohexane in glass capillaries ranging from 0.3 to 400 fim in radii [46]. The contact angle formed by a moving meniscus may differ, however, from the static one [46, 47]. Good and Lin [48] found a difference in penetration rate between an outgassed capillary and one with a vapor adsorbed film, and they propose that the driving force be modified by a film pressure term. 

Surfactants aid dewatering of filter cakes after the cakes have formed and have very Httle observed effect on the rate of cake formation. Equations describing the effect of a surfactant show that dewatering is enhanced by lowering the capillary pressure of water in the cake rather than by a kinetic effect. The amount of residual water in a filter cake is related to the capillary forces hoi ding the Hquids in the cake. Laplace s equation relates the capillary pressure (P ) to surface tension (cj), contact angle of air and Hquid on the soHd (9) which is a measure of wettabiHty, and capillary radius (r ), or a similar measure appHcable to filter cakes. 

The principle of measurement is based on the fact that mercury does not wet most substances and thus, it will not penetrate pores by capillary action. Surface tension opposes the entrance of any liquid into pores, provided that the hquid exhibits a contact angle greater than 90° [115,116]. Therefore, external pressure is required to force the liquid (mercury in this case) into the pores of the material. The pressure that has to be applied to force a liquid into a given pore size is given by the Washburn equation. 

The situation shown in Figure 6.2b is one in which surface tension and contact angle considerations pull a liquid upward in opposition to gravity. A mass of liquid is drawn up as if it were suspended by the surface from the supporting walls. At equilibrium the upward pull of the surface and the downward pull of gravity on the elevated mass must balance. This elementary statement of force balance applies to two techniques by which 7 can be measured if 6 is known the Wilhelmy plate and capillary rise. 

Capillary rise is responsible for water being drawn into a sponge or a cloth. When the cloth is coated with a waterproofing material, such as silicone, the adhesive forces are reduced, the contact angle is greater than 90°, and there is no longer a tendency for water to be drawn into the cloth. 

In printing, a film of ink is formed by wetting the surface with the compression force of the rollers. This force spreads the ink over the surface and into any capillaries that may be present. Spreading and penetration are controlled thermodynamically and kinetically. Measurement of the contact angle can be used to determine the thermodynamics of wetting. This angle can be used also to determine the contribution that polarity and dispersive forces of the liquid make to the wetting of the surface. 

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