Test & measurement
Using smartphones to measure contact angle and surface tension
As smartphones grow more powerful, they are not just a means of communication, photography and navigation, rather they can be used in laboratories as an instrument for image processing, data treatment, clinical diagnosis, and environmental monitoring, replacing traditional lab instruments. Droplet Lab has developed a new instrument that uses smartphone technology for contact angle and surface (interfacial) tension measurements. The contact angle (also called wetting angle) quantifies the wettability of a solid surface with a liquid
surface (interfacial) tension is optical tensiometers, which analyses the shape of a drop sitting on a solid surface (for contact angle) or drop suspended from a capillary (pendant drop) in a liquid/gas phase. The traditional optical tensiometers are large and bulky due to their optical image acquisition system (camera, lens, and light source), a data processing and display system (typically a computer with a monitor), and a liquid drop generation system. As such, they are expense and bench bound. Droplet Lab is a Canadian
T
company that has developed the Dropometer, thus breaking a 30-year old mould for surface tensiometry. This revolutionary system uses the camera and processing power of smartphones to meet, and even exceed, the accuracy of the best-in-class traditional systems, while at the same time being portable, having a smaller footprint, and fully battery operated in the manual version. The automated version of Dropometer, uses a fraction of power of traditional systems, which score high on green
54
he most popular method to measure contact angle and
credentials, especially considering the additive manufacturing technology used to build its hardware. The Dropometer also
opens the door for taking surface tensiometry into a more educational realm; an instructor can easily take this tensiometer to a classroom or laboratory and demonstrate the concepts of wettability and surface tension to a class. This novel instrument features educationally friendly qualities such as screen mirroring and projection. The use of smartphone technology makes this particular tensiometer an affordable alternative for both researchers, and for teaching labs, so to allow students experience and hands-on learning. The system also enables Internet connectivity, allowing for better document management and recordkeeping. The Dropometer can be
used in a wide range of fields including the chemical, oil, and food industry, as well as advanced material engineering, print, pharmaceuticals and any area where surface properties and wettability are of significance.
Droplet Lab
www.dropletlab.com
March 2019 Instrumentation Monthly
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