A new method for the characterisation of the wettability of powders

The wetting characteristics of fine powders play an important role in a variety of processes. The most important way of characterising the wettability of a fluid/fluid/solid system is to measure the contact angle. This paper describes a relatively simple method for the determination of the contact angle on powdery materials. The technique involves the measurement of the dynamic contact angle which is formed when a liquid drop is placed on a horizontal porous surface. On the basis of the measured dynamic contact angle as a function of time an ''apparent'' static contact angle has been defined, which gives a measure of the wettability of porous solid systems by analogy with the wetting of non-porous solids. Determinations with glass beads and NaCl-powders as the test materials indicate that the measured value depends on the particle size of the powder, the porosity and the temperature. It was concluded that the capillary penetration of the liquid droplet into the porous media itself influences the wetting characteristics.