Use of the pendant drop method to measure interfacial tension between molten polymers

Abstract

In this paper the pendant drop method to measure interfacial tension between molten polymers is reviewed. A typical pendant drop apparatus is presented. The algorithms used to infer interfacial tension from the geometrical profile of the pendant drop are described in details, in particular a new routine to evaluate correctly the value of the radius at the apex of the drop, necessary to the calculation of interfacial tension is presented. The method was evaluated for the possibility of measuring the interfacial tension between polyethylene and polystyrene. It is shown that the method is unsuitable for the measurement of interfacial tension between high density polyethylene and polystyrene due possibly to a too small difference of density between the two polymers. Values of interfacial tension between low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polystyrene (PS) as a function of the molecular weight of PS are presented. It was shown that the interfacial tension between LDPE and PS increased as a function of molecular weight of PS up to values of molecular weight of roughly 40,000 g/mol, value for which entanglements occur

Studies on the selective localization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in blends of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and polycaprolactone

“…In order to understand the interfacial effect of polymer melts during processing, the interfacial tensions of the polymer melts at processing temperature need to be tested. The pendant drop method is the effective method to measure the interfacial tensions of polymer melts [27,28] (4): (4) where # d represents the dispersion component of surface tension of the polymer melt, # is the surface tension of the polymer melt, # PTFE is the surface . From Equation (1), !…”

“…In order to prepare PVDF based conductive material with low percolation threshold by melt blending, a ternary system of MWNT/PCL/PVDF for double percolation was designed in this paper. The pendant drop method [27,28] was applied to measure the interfacial tensions of polymer melts at processing melt for selective localization of MWNT. Formation of co-continuous morphologies in composites by adjusting the proportions of PVDF to PCL were investigated.…”

Evaluation of surface energy of solid polymers using different models

“…The equation of the straight line obtained by fitting the surface tension as a function of temperature is ␥ ϭ Ϫ0.12t ϩ 57.68 (15) where t is the temperature in°C.…”

Synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of toxicity of quaternary ammonium chlorides of glucose-based ester

“…The foaming ability, formation, and stability of the synthesized quaternary ammonium chlorides of glucosebased esters were investigated by oscillation methods at a concentration of 0.01 mol/L, which was performed at room temperature (20 • C) 23 . An aqueous sugar-based ester quaternary ammonium compounds solution (10 mL, in pure water, which was obtained by purification at reverse osmosis systems) was loaded into a stopped cylinder of 50 mL, and then shaken rigorously 10 times at a speed of twice per second.…”