University of Karbala

College of Engineering
Third Stage

Contact Angle Measurement using

Imaging Method
By: Mohammed Ahmed Hussien
& Karrar Heidar Sarhan

Supervisor: Hawraa adil

● Objective
• To explore the concepts of surface free energy, adhesion and
wetting by measuring the contact angle of a series of liquids on
a polytetrafluoroethylene (teflon) substrate.

• To create a Zisman Plot from a series of contact angle

measurements to determine the surface tension of
polytetrafluoroethylene (teflon).

● Introduction

The interaction between a liquid and a solid involves three

interfaces; the solid-liquid interface, the liquid-vapor interface
and the solid-vapor interface. Each of these interfaces has an
associated surface tension, γ, which represents the energy
required to create a unit area of that particular interface.
he angle between a liquid drop and a solid surface, Young’s
contact angle, is related to the surface tensions of the three
interfaces according to the relationship:

cos θY = (γSolid-Vapor - γSolid-Liquid) / γLiquid-Vapor (1)

The magnitude of Young’s contact angle is a result of energy

minimization. If the liquid-vapor surface tension is smaller than
the solid-vapor surface tension (γLV < γSV), the liquid-solid
interface will increase to minimize energy. As the drop wets
the surface, the contact angle approaches zero.
The critical surface tension of a material, γc, is a measure of the
surface’s wettability and it is proportional to the surface free
energy of the material. A liquid with a surface tension less than
or equal to the critical surface tension of a particular material
will “wet” that surface, i.e. the contact angle will be less than
or equal to 90o. A material’s critical

surface tension can be determined from a Zisman Plot, which

measures variation in Young’s contact angle as a function of
the surface tension of a series of liquids. Zisman noticed
empirically that a plot of cos(θ) versus γLV is often linear. The
value for which cos(θ) extrapolates to 1 is termed the critical
surface tension.
Materials
n-heptane cyclooctane
n-octane bicyclohexyl
n-undecane acetone
n-tetradecane hexanes
n-hexadecane ethanol
1-mL syringe flat piece of teflon (~3cm x 3cm)
clean cotton swabs

The contact angle between oil, water and a solid surface will
depend on the following:
• crude oil composition
• surface electric properties (pH and salt content of water)
• the solid surface itself
• roughness and heterogeneity of the solid surface
• dynamic effects
• pressure and temperatujte,
Equipment and Materials

- View finder
- Camera
- Syringe
- Glass tube
- Glass cell
- Light filter
- Light source
● Procedure

1. Turn the Goniometer and run the program of DROPimage

Advanced

2. Place the glass on the bottom of the chamber. make it flat

3. Adjust the microsyringe position so that the bottom of the

needle appears about a fourth of a way down in the live
window screen.

4. Adjust the baseline horizontal and about just below the

midpoint in the live window screen.

5. Carefully apply one drop of distilled water onto the solid

surface with a microliter syringe.

6. Click on Measure in the main menu bar and then click on

Take a Picture.

7. Click on CA Tools and then on Contact Angle to open the

Contact Angle Tool.

8. Click Option in Contact Angle window menu bar to set the

time interval (in seconds) and number of measurement desired.
9. In the Contact Angle window, click on the Start button then
adjust the vertical line so that it passes through the center of the
drop. Click measure.

10. Repeat experiment with parafilm.

● Calculation

Equation
● Discussion

By: Mohamed Ahmed

1-How do you manually measure contact angles?

Ans//The sessile drop method is by far the most commonly
used method to measure contact angle. It involves a syringe
pump to produce the droplet of liquid (usually water), and a
camera to observe the droplet on a substrate.
2What is the contact angle a measurement of and where can it
be found?
Ans// When an interface exists between a liquid and a solid, the
angle between the surface of the liquid and the outline of the
contact surface is described as the contact angle e (lower case
theta). The contact angle (wetting angle) is a measure of the
wettability of a solid by a liquid.
3-Why is the contact angle of water Zero?
Ans//The angle of contact does not depend on the manner of
contact. When a liquid has concave meniscus, the angle of
contact is acute. When it has a convex meniscus, the angle of
contact is obtuse. For pure water and perfectly clean glass, the
angle of contact is 0°.
4-How do you measure wetting angle?
Ans//The sessile drop contact angle is measured by a contact
angle goniometer using an optical subsystem to capture the
profile of a pure liquid on a solid substrate. The angle formed
between the liquid-solid interface and the liquid-vapor interface
is the contact angle. low permeability rocks.

5-What does angle of contact depend on?

Angle of contact depends on both liquid interaction & liquid
solid interaction & the medium above them.
6-How do you find the surface tension of a contact angle?
Ans// Contact angle on the surface (in the form cose) for a
series of liquids is plotted against surface tension. This is then
extrapolated to find the surface tension for cose = 1, where e =
0°, and surface %3D tension is equal to surface energy of the
solid.
7-What is angle of contact when it is obtuse?
Ans// When the liquid surface is curved concave upwards, the
angle of contact is acute and when the liquid surface is curved
convex upwards, the angle of contact is obtuse. Characteristics
of the Angle of Contact: .. If the angle of contact is large the
surface is not wetted. Mercury does not wet glass.
8-What is the effect of contact angle and wettability?
Ans// Contact angle is a measure of wettability Water contact
angle will immediately give an indication of the wettability of
the solid. If the measured contact angle is above 90 degrees, the
solid said to have poor wetting and is termed hydrophobic. If
the contact angle is below 90 degrees, a term hydrophilic is
used.
9-What is the angle of contact between mercury and glass?
Ans// The mercury-glass contact angle is of the order of 140~ 9
Using this value in equation 4, we get - = 0.12. Therefore, %3D
when a drop of mercury is plaeed on a glass plate, one-eighth
of the " Apparent solid- liquid interface" represents actual
contact between the mercury and the glass.
10-What is angle of contact what are its values for pure water
and mercury?
Ans// When a liquid has concave meniscus, the angle of contact
is acute. When it has a convex meniscus, the angle of contact is
obtuse. For pure water and perfectly clean glass, the angle of
contact is 0°.... The angle of contact of mercury (exposed to
air) with lass glass is nearly 138°.
11-How do you reduce contact angle?
Ans//If a sufficiently small volume of liquid is added to a drop,
the contact line will still be pinned, and the contact angle will
increase. Similarly, if a small amount of liquid is removed from
a drop, the contact angle will decrease.
12-Does angle of contact depend on temperature?
Ans// It means, if the temperature increases, angle of contact
decreases due to decrease cohesive force and if the temperature
decreases, angle of contact increases due to increase cohesive
force.
13-Which factor does not affect angle of contact?
Ans//The angle of contact between pure water and clean glass
is nearly zero. For liquid which completely wets the solid, the
angle of contact is zero. (e.g., - water in contact with glass). For
liquid which partly wets the solid, the angle of contact is acute.
14-Why is the angle of contact obtuse in case of mercury?
Ans//The angle made by the mercury from the glass surface is
always obtuse. The adhesive force between the molecules of
glass and water is more than the cohesive force between the
molecules of water. This results in the formation of a concave
meniscus for the surface of water.
By : Karrar Heidar

Q1/ How is contact angle measured?

A1) In the tilting method, the droplet is placed on the substrate
which is then gradually tilted. The advancing angle is measured
at the front of the droplet just as the droplet starts to move. The
receding contact angle is measured at the back of the droplet, at
the same time point
Q2/ What does angle of contact depend on?
A2) Angle of contact depends on both liquid liquid interaction
& liquid solid interaction &the medium above them
Q3/ How do you manually measure contact angles?
A3) The sessile drop method is by far the most commonly used
method to measure contact angle. It involves a syringe pump to
produce the droplet of liquid (usually water), and a camera to
observe the droplet on a substrate
Q4/ What is contact angle goniometer?
A4) It is defined geometrically as the angle formed by a liquid
at the three phase boundary where a liquid, gas, and solid
intersect. ... The well-known Young equation describes the
balance at the three phase contact of solid-liquid and gas.
Q5/ How are the cohesion forces when the angle is smaller ?
A5) The smaller the angle of contact - the cohesion forces are
weaker then the adhesion forces and liquid molecules tend to
interact more with solid particles and then liquid particles.
Q6/ How do you measure advancing and receding contact
angle?
A6) As the contact line between the substrate and the drop is
increasing, the advancing contact angle is measured. When the
liquid is sucked slowly off the substrate and the contact line is
withdrawing, the receding contact angle is measured.
Q7/ What is dynamic contact angle?
A7) The dynamic contact angles are the extremes of a possible
contact angle range and they occur when the three-phase
boundary is in motion. Dynamic contact angles provide
information on the topography and homogeneity of the surface.
Q8/ What is the contact angle a measurement of and where can
it be found?
A8) When an interface exists between a liquid and a solid, the
angle between the surface of the liquid and the outline of the
contact surface is described as the contact angle θ (lower case
theta). The contact angle (wetting angle) is a measure of the
wettability of a solid by a liquid.
Q9 / Does angle of contact depend on temperature?
A9) It means, if the temperature increases, angle of contact
decreases due to decrease cohesive force and if the temperature
decreases, angle of contact increases due to increase cohesive
force.
Q10/ How are the cohesion forces when the angle of contact is
large ?
A10) The greater the angle of contact - the cohesion forces are
stronger than the adhesive forces and the liquid molecules tend
to interact more with each other and then with the solid
particles.
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