CSC Scientific Blog

A blog about test equipment

A Beginner's Guide to Surface Tension, Surfactants and Micelles

Posted by Art Gatenby on Oct 10, 2022 5:24:05 PM

Welcome to my beginner's guide to Surface Tension, Surfactants, and Micelles. In this blog, we'll be exploring the basics of these topics in order to better understand their role in industry and everyday life. Surface tension is a crucial property of a liquid that allows it to resist being pulled apart by gravity, and surfactants are molecules that can lower the surface tension of water. Micelles are spherical structures that are formed when surfactants reach a certain concentration in water, and they play an important role in many cleaning and industrial processes. We'll be discussing all of this and more in this blog, so let's get started!

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Topics: Tensiometer, Surface Tension, CMC, Micelles, surfactants

Is My Test Equipment Lying?

Posted by Art Gatenby on Sep 20, 2022 4:31:42 PM

I keep running into this kind of thing.

There is a recurring question we are asked as instrument manufacturers:

"Is my equipment working OK?"

This is of particular concern when a production process seems to be off standard.

QC says: "Clearly Process Problems"

Production says: "Bad Test Results"

These challenges arise often.

What to do?

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Topics: Surface Tension, Liquid Properties

Liquid Surface Tension and Interfacial Tension Between Liquids

Posted by Art Gatenby on Jun 24, 2021 3:34:00 PM

I was musing, the other day on the designs of two ring tensiometers. One of them is called an interfacial tensiometer and the other simply a tensiometer. The plain tensiometer works only with an upward pull and the interfacial works with both an upward pull as well as a downward push. Before I get to my question a couple of definition might be useful.

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Topics: Surface Tension Measurement, Surface Tension, interfacial tension, interfacial surface tension, surface Tension Testing, du Nouy Ring Method, du Nouy tensiometer, Liquid Properties

Surface Tension - Rings, Bubbles, Drops, and Plates

Posted by Art Gatenby on Oct 19, 2020 4:12:12 PM

The definition of Liquid Surface Tension is simple.  

It's the force that keeps a liquid from flying off into space.

However, the measurement of surface tension can take many forms, which can be confusing. In an attempt to get some clarity, we have articulated two principle measurement concepts in this article: drop-based measurement and force-based measurement.

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Topics: Automatic Digital Tensiometer, Automatic Surface Tension Measurment, Surface Tension Measurement, Surface Tension, Interfacial Tensiometer, interfacial tension, tensiometers, du Nouy tensiometer, surface tension instruments, surface tension analysis

Contact Angle Fundamentals: What You Actually Need to Know

Posted by Amanda Ranowsky on Aug 26, 2019 9:00:00 AM

It’s easy to pretend you know the operating terms surrounding contact angle measurement. But do you really? For industries such as coatings, printing, and oil recovery, contact angle testing is an essential component of the production and/or quality assurance process. Having a competent understanding of these terms will make it so much easier to choose the right instrument for your company - one you can be certain will do what you need it to do. 

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Topics: Surface Tension, contact angle, contact angle meter, dynamic contact angle, Liquid Properties

Surface Tension by duNouy Rings or Wilhelmy Plates – Which to Choose?

Posted by Art Gatenby on Jul 16, 2018 5:34:18 PM

When tempted to think I know all there is about surface tension measurement, further information brings me back to earth. I’m conversant with the principal applications: surfactant analysis, plating, detecting contaminants, development of ink and the like. I have assisted customers to set up and calibrate duNouy Ring tensiometers for most applications -- all the while taking for granted that the Ring technique was the method of choice -- with only infrequent questions arising about Wilhelmy Plate tensiometers.

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Topics: Wilhelmy Plates, duNouy Rings, Tensiometer, Surface Tension, interfacial surface tension, Liquid Properties, surface tension instruments, surface tension analysis, Digital tensiometer, automatic Tensiometer

Do You Need An Automatic Tensiometer?

Posted by Art Gatenby on Dec 6, 2016 5:16:09 PM

This is an update of an article originally published in December 2013 - Three years ago.

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Topics: Automatic Digital Tensiometer, Automatic Surface Tension Measurment, Surface Tension Measurement, Surface Tension, du Nouy tensiometer, Liquid Properties, surface tension instruments, surface tension analysis, Digital tensiometer, automatic Tensiometer

Should You Move to "Actual" Surface Tension?

Posted by Art Gatenby on Sep 8, 2016 4:31:38 PM

An understandable definition of surface tension: The attraction force between molecules at the surface of a liquid. The force that keeps if from flying off into space.

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Topics: Tensiometer, Surface Tension Measurement, Surface Tension, actual surface tension, apparent surface tension, Liquid Properties

Initiation to Contact Angle

Posted by Art Gatenby on Aug 11, 2016 4:24:42 PM

A classical definition of Contact Angle:

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Topics: Surface Tension, contact angle, contact angle meter, dynamic contact angle, Liquid Properties

Contact Angle and Surface Tension - A Fascinating Liaison

Posted by Amanda Ranowsky on Apr 4, 2016 12:56:10 PM

Contact angle and surface tension. The two terms are never far apart. Run a Google search of "contact angle" right now and see for yourself. You'll often see the terms mentioned within a breath of one another because contact angle and surface tension are two approaches to surface analysis - the study of how a surface interacts with other materials or components. Generally speaking, there is also a relationship between the two measurements, one that tends not to be very clearly explained in other resources. I hope to remedy that today.

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Topics: Automatic Surface Tension Measurment, Surface Tension Measurement, Surface Tension, contact angle, contact angle meter, wettability, Liquid Properties

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