Contact angle
The contact angle measurement, carried out with the “sessile drop technique”, is an optical technique for determining the characteristics of wettability of a solid surface by the liquid used.The contact angle provides an indication of the relative strength of the interactions occurring in the liquid/solid/air system.
The instrument for measuring the contact angle according to the Standard EN 15802, is composed of a light source, a sample holder, a syringe for the deposition of a drop of liquid and an image acquisition system.
The samples to be analysed are specimens of size range between 1 x 1 cm to about 10 x 10 cm.
The achieved images are processed by an appropriate software, which allows to obtain the contact angle. The contact angle value may be correlated to the cleanability and slipperiness of the surface.
Services to industry
- assessment of the wettability of a surface
- assessment of the surface tension or free energy of a solid.
Determination of the contact angle according to different Standards:
- ISO 27448 (Test method for self-cleaning performance of semiconducting photocatalytic materials – Measurement of water contact angle)
- ASTM D 7334 (Standard Practice for Surface Wettability of Coatings, Substrates and Pigments by Advancing Contact Angle Measurement)
- UNI EN 828 (Wettability – Determination by measurement of contact angle and surface free energy of solid surface)
- ASTM D 7490 (Standard Test Method for Measurement of the Surface Tension of Solid Coatings, Substrates and Pigments using Contact Angle Measurements).
Contact person:
Dr. Giovanni Ridolfi – e-mail ridolfi@centroceramico.it
Mobile: +39 345 9317030