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Updated: Jul 27, 2025
Measuring the Interaction Force Between a Droplet and a Super-hydrophobic Substrate by the Optical Lever Method
Published on: June 14, 2019
Friction force-based measurements for simultaneous determination of the wetting properties and stability of
Mohamadreza Beitollahpoor1, Melika Farzam1, Noshir S Pesika1
1Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA.
Hypothesis:
Contact angle and sliding angle measurements are widely used to characterize superhydrophobic surfaces because of the simplicity and accessibility of the technique. We hypothesize that dynamic friction measurements, with increasing pre-loads, between a water drop and a superhydrophobic surface is more accurate because this technique is less influenced by local surface inhomogeneities and temporal surface changes.
Experiments:
A water drop, held by a ring probe which is connected to a dual-axis force sensor, is sheared against a superhydrophobic surface while maintaining a constant preload. From this force-based technique, static and kinetic friction forces measurements are used to characterize the wetting properties of the superhydrophobic surfaces. Furthermore, by applying increased pre-loads to the water drop while shearing, the critical load at which the drop transitions from the Cassie-Baxter to Wenzel state is also measured.
Findings:
The force-based technique predicts sliding angles with reduced standard deviations (between 56 and 64%) compared to conventional optical-based measurements. Kinetic friction force measurements show a higher accuracy (between 35 and 80%) compared to static friction force measurements in characterizing the wetting properties of superhydrophobic surfaces. The critical loads for the Cassie-Baxter to Wenzel state transition allows for stability characterization between seemingly similar superhydrophobic surfaces.
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