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Surface Energy

The sum of all the intermolecular forces or the excess energy that is present at the surface of the material is known as Surface energy.

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129 views

Surface Energy

The sum of all the intermolecular forces or the excess energy that is present at the surface of the material is known as Surface energy.

Uploaded by

anon_820770985
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SURFACE ENERGY

The sum of all the intermolecular forces or the excess energy that is present at
the surface of the material is known as Surface energy. The amount of work that
is needed to form the surface is the source of energy present at the surface.
Hence it may be defined as the energy or work per unit area as a result of the
force that creates the new surface and has the units J/m2.
It can also be defined in terms of Gibbs Free Energy:

Factors that affect Surface Energy:


Brittle Failure:
Cast iron has a surface energy value of 1520 J/m2 which is very high and the
material is very brittle and as we know that brittle fracture results in the
formation of new surfaces hence the relationship between surface energy and
brittle failure is inverse.
Rough values of Surface Energies for solids are:

Temperature:
When considering bulk quantity of a material, atoms
in the material are surrounded evenly resulting in
cohesive forces to balance themselves between the
atoms.
A net inward cohesive force exists because surface
atoms are present only on one side. So this force tries to lessen the area on the
surface. Moreover, if we take the surface energy as a force, then it will be called
as surface tension.
If we increase the temperature of the substance, the cohesive forces that are
binding the atoms decreases because the increase in temperature in a solid
causes the atoms to vibrate more. Also the net inward cohesive force at the
surface decreases causing a decrease in the surface energy of that material.
For metals like silver, gold and copper, the value of surface energy decreases by
approx. 0.5 (mJ.m2/K) due to an increase in the temperature and for water the
decrease is about 160 (mJ.m2/K).
Contamination:
Mostly the contaminated molecule adheres to
the surface of the material and hence causes
a disruption in the balance of forces. This
causes the net inward cohesive forces to
decrease and as a result, the value of surface
energy of the material is decreased due to
contaminant.

Surface energy of Solids:


For an isotropic material which has the same surface energy for all
crystallographic orientations e.g. amorphous solids (glass), their surface energy
is measured at a high temperature.
If at a high temperature, we take a rod having a radius “r” and of cylindrical
length “l” and has constant uniaxial tension “P” then the surface energy of this
material can be expressed as:

 Surface energy and Heat of Sublimation:


We can find a link between surface energy and pairwise intermolecular energy,
and in order to determine that pairwise intermolecular energy we need to break
all the intermolecular forces in the material. Also we know that when a material
goes under the sublimation process (solid to gas), then all of its intermolecular
forces are broken.
So we can find the pairwise intermolecular energy from the heat of sublimation
and finally we can find a reasonable estimate to the surface energy by the
equation.

Here, , are representing the coordination numbers which are referring to


surface and bulk sections of material, also ao is the surface area of an individual
atom.
 Calculating surface energy by Fracture method:
In this we open up a crack in a double cantilever form
by doing some work to forcefully opening the edges
apart and this energy spent is equal to potential and
surface energy. Hence:

In the above equation, T=Surface energy, E=Young’s modulus and x, y and d are
the lengths as shown in the diagram.

 Calculating surface energy by Indentation method:


When the specimen is small we use the indentation method.
Micro cracks are made at sharp edges by forcing a diamond
point into the surface of the material.
Hence the surface energy can be calculated by:

Here, “F” is the indenting force and the lengths


“a” and “c” are as shown in the diagram.
Measuring the Surface energy (Tension) for Liquids:
In the case of liquids, we take the surface energy
as surface tension as they refer to same
dimensional quantity and hence we can define
surface tension as force/length that is acting on
the surface of the material and is normal to an
imaginary line that is present on the surface. The
cohesive force that acts on the liquid surface in
inward direction makes the surface decrease it
area and gives the illusion of having an elastic skin.
We can also describe surface tension as the
resistance of a fluid to deform or break.
Liquid’s surface tension can be measured using a method known as wire frame.
In this method we use a rectangular wire frame of length, l, being pulled
upwards with a force, Fup, while being suspended into liquid so that the
downward force, Fdown, of surface tension, T, is balanced.

Wetting:
Surface energy (γ) places a very important
role in the wetting phenomena. To
understand what is wetting, we first need
to look into a single liquid drop on a solid
substrate. Wetting occurs when the
substrate’s γ changes upon the addition of
the liquid drop. The spreading parameter
(S) can be measured by:

Here, is substrate’s surface energy,


is interfacial energy that exists amid the
substrate and liquid, and is liquid’s
surface energy.
The substrate is partially wet by the liquid if and it will completely wet
the surface if .
We can experimentally determine wetting by looking at the angle that
associates the solid-liquid and solid-gas interfaces and is known as the contact
angle (θ).
If , then the liquid will completely wet the substrate.
If , then we will have high wetting.
If , then the result is low wetting.
If , no wetting occurs.
A Link between the interfacial energy and the contact angle can be found using
the Young’s Equation:

Here, is the interfacial energy that exists amid solid-gas phase, and is
the interfacial energy that exists amid the liquid-gas phase.

Kelvin Equation:
Curved surfaces are formed in
liquid due to surface tension, ,
to reduce the area. This cause the
Gibbs free energy to decrease.
The diagram shows the vapor
pressure of the two surfaces and
the drop easily evaporates
because it has a higher vapor
pressure due to the increased Laplace pressure.
Changes in vapor pressure as a result of curved liquid surfaces can be shown by
kelvin equation below:

Here, and are the vapor pressure due to curved and flat surfaces
respectively, =liquid’s molar volume, and curvature of surface has the
principle radii and .

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