RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SURFACE ENERGY AND SURFACE CONTAMINATION

As a characterizing method of engineering materials, surface measurement of contact angles is an effective one. The relation of surface energies determined by the two-liquid-contact-angle method to surface contamination is described. By measuring the contact angles of water drops on solid specimens in hydrocarbon liquid, not only the dispersion component of surface tension (γ s d ) but also the nondispersive interaction energy between surface and water (I SW n ) (mainly due to hydrogen bonding) can be determined.