A new method for Characterization of the Surface Energy of Hydrophobic Particles

A film flotation technique has been developed for assessing the hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity of an assembly of particles which have a distribution of surface energies. With this method, particles are partitioned by placing them on the surface of a series of aqueous solutions of different surface tensions and determining the fraction imbibed into the liquid. From the results, a cumulative distribution of particles versus their critical wetting surface tension (surface energy) can be made. The mean critical wetting surface tension can be used as an index for making correlations with surface-based processes.