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Static and dynamic contact angle measurements using a custom-made contact angle goniometer

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Abstract

Contact angle is a physical quantity used to evaluate the interaction between a solid surface and a liquid. However, many research laboratories or educational institutions with budget constraints have limited access to a commercial contact-angle goniometer with a high-resolution imaging system. In this study, we fabricated a custom-made contact angle goniometer with a smartphone and quantified the contact angles of water on various surfaces. We found that the receding contact angles on the surfaces were sensitive to the change in flow rates. The receding angle sharply decreases when the flow rate exceeds 50 µl/min, indicating that accurate flow control is required in contact angle measurements. The dynamic contact angles could also be quantified by the developed goniometer in an extremely low-capillary number regime. The dynamic advancing and receding contact angles on tested surfaces followed the molecular-kinetic theory.

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Abbreviations

Ca :

Capillary number

E :

Elastic modulus

Y :

Surface tension

K 0 :

Frequency of adsorption-desorption of the molecules at the contact line

k B :

Boltzmann constant

L :

Characteristic length

L S :

Slip length

μ :

Viscosity

Q :

Flow rate

θ A :

Advancing contact angle

θ D :

Dynamic contact angle

θ R :

Receding contact angle

θ S :

Static contact angle

T :

Kelvin temperature scale

U :

Contact line velocity

ξ :

Distance between molecular adsorption sites on the solid surface

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Research Program funded by the SeoulTech (Seoul National University of Science and Technology).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Information Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, 01811, Korea

    Hanbyeol Pak & Jeong-Hyun Kim

  2. Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, 01811, Korea

    Jeong-Hyun Kim

Authors
  1. Hanbyeol Pak
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  2. Jeong-Hyun Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeong-Hyun Kim.

Additional information

Hanbyeol Pak is a M.S. student at the Department of Mechanical Information Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea. Her research interests include interfacial flows and flow visualization.

Jeong-Hyun Kim is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical System Design Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul, Korea. He received his Ph.D. from the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2016. His research interests include droplet dynamics on hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces, interfacial flows, rheology, and microfluidics.

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Pak, H., Kim, JH. Static and dynamic contact angle measurements using a custom-made contact angle goniometer. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 4117–4124 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0728-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0728-7

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