Think about it: Airplane paint isn’t just for looks. Weighing in at a hefty 500 kg, it significantly impacts the aircraft’s fuel consumption. But it goes beyond weight management. Paint acts as the aircraft’s first line of defense against often-overlooked enemies like corrosive rain and harsh UV radiation. Therefore, aircraft paint needs to meet several crucial demands: high surface energy, excellent wettability, and minimal weight. At Droplet Lab, our tensiometer helps strike this delicate balance, resulting in aircraft paints that are both durable and fuel-efficient.

Medical implants, scaffolds, and biosensors are transforming our lives and becoming everyday reality. Understanding how different biomaterial surfaces interact with water, either attracting (hydrophilic) or repelling (hydrophobic) it, is crucial. This knowledge directly impacts everything from cell adhesion to tissue regeneration. For example, by carefully adjusting the surface energy and roughness of a substrate, we can significantly enhance cell growth. Surface tension plays a key role in fabricating hybrid materials. We can combine 3D printed polymers with cell-laden hydrogels to create fully biocompatible, 3D structures of living tissues. This innovative approach utilizes surface-wetting forces to suspend liquid films across the openings of a mesh, which can then be converted into a solid coating or hydrogel.

A chemical company faces the challenge of transitioning to sustainable methodologies amid growing environmental concerns, stringent regulations, and shifting customer preferences towards eco-friendly products. To tackle this challenge, the company leverages surface science as a transformative tool.

Contact angle and surface tension measurements play a crucial role in this transition by providing precise insights into the surface properties of materials. These measurements help the company evaluate and optimize the wetting characteristics and interactions of raw materials, leading to the development of more efficient catalysts. By understanding and manipulating these surface properties, researchers can enhance catalyst efficiency, reduce waste, and lower energy consumption, aligning with sustainable production principles.

As a result, the company significantly reduces its environmental impact, surpasses regulatory requirements, and positions itself as a leader in environmentally responsible chemical manufacturing. This shift not only benefits the environment but also leads to cost savings, market expansion, and a strengthened brand image, as consumers increasingly favor products that adhere to sustainability standards.

Challenge: Water leakage in an underground parking structure was causing vehicle damage and structural deterioration. Solution: A waterproofing membrane with low surface tension was applied to the concrete surfaces. This membrane provided effective water repellency, preventing water infiltration and preserving the integrity of the parking structure while protecting the vehicles.

Scenario: Liquid metals (LMs) are conducting like other metals, at the same time, they also possess the stretchable behaviour of liquid at room temperature. This property makes them suitable for stretchable electronics. Application: An electronics manufacturer faces the big problem of attaining the desired shape as due to high surface tension LM’s tend to form spherical shapes. To deal with this issue the manufacturer decided to break up the material into smaller chunks. They then decided to stabilize the smaller chunks using a suitable surfactant. This helped them to achieve the desired values of surface tension and hence the desired shape of the LMs.

In the captivating world of printing intricate designs on textiles with inkjet technology, experts meticulously tweak the fabric’s surface properties to ensure the perfect canvas. Textile and printing companies analyze surface tension and contact angles, not passively observing, but actively manipulating them to guarantee the fabric flawlessly holds the ink. This meticulous attention to detail prevents smudging and blurring, resulting in sharp, vibrant, and eye-catching patterns that come alive on the fabric.

Challenge: Uneven pesticide distribution can lead to pest infestations and diseases in agriculture. Importance of Contact Angle: Proper contact angles in pesticide formulations ensure balanced coverage on plant surfaces. Solution: A farm tested various pesticide formulations with different contact angles. They found that formulations with a contact angle close to zero adhered better to plant leaves, reducing pesticide runoff and enhancing pest control, which led to healthier crops.

Imagine you’re a chocolatier, striving to create chocolates that not only taste exquisite but also have a captivating aesthetic. The technique of chocolate tempering is crucial for achieving the desired texture and glossy appearance. Traditionally, tempering requires precise temperature control, but surface science measurements simplify this process significantly.

By accurately measuring surface tension and surface energy, you can attain the optimal temper for chocolates. Manipulating these surface properties ensures your chocolates have a rich, pleasing texture and an appealing, shiny appearance that attracts consumers. Say goodbye to the inconsistencies of traditional tempering methods and embrace a more reliable and efficient approach that elevates the quality of your chocolate creations to new heights.

Challenge: In 3D Printing, controlling the surface tension of printing materials is essential for achieving precise and high-quality prints.

Solution: Engineers have developed 3D printing material that has relatively low surface tension. Lower surface tension promotes better wetting and adhesion of the printing material to the build surface and between successive layers. Therefore, the new 3D printing material will offer improved print quality, reduced defects such as warping and delamination, and enhanced overall printing reliability. It will help the 3D printing material spread evenly across the build surface, creating strong bonds between layers and will reduce the likelihood of issues like “elephant’s foot” (excessive material squishing at the first layer) or “stringing” (unwanted thin strands of material).

Challenge: Achieving efficient flotation in both copper and gold mining is crucial yet complex due to the need for selective attachment of valuable minerals to air bubbles while controlling wetting behavior and surface tension.

Solution: Flotation in mining relies heavily on the interaction between mineral particles and air bubbles. For copper mining, optimizing the contact angle is vital for selectively floating copper minerals and repelling gangue minerals like silica. Achieving an ideal contact angle of 0⁰  ensures hydrophobicity, leading to a high-quality copper concentrate.

In gold mining, controlling surface tension is essential for creating a stable froth. This froth enables gold particles to attach to air bubbles and be separated effectively from gangue materials. Proper surface tension values ensure air bubbles have sufficient buoyancy and stability to carry gold particles to the surface, facilitating efficient recovery.

Challenge: The sterility of aseptic packages can be compromised during storage and distribution due to rough or improper handling.

Solution: In one study, scientists focused on determining the threshold pressure required to create a leak. They observed significantly lower threshold pressures in the case of low surface tension liquids, such as safranin red dye, compared to high surface tension liquids, like distilled water. This insight allows manufacturers to proactively avoid conditions that could lead to leakage issues. A tensiometer like Droplet Lab’s Dropometer precisely measures surface tension, enabling manufacturers to identify and understand how different liquids interact with packaging materials. By providing accurate data on surface tension, it helps in assessing the susceptibility of packaging to leaks and supports the development of more robust packaging solutions, thus maintaining package sterility.

To achieve successful immersion lithography, meticulous management of the immersion fluid is crucial. A major failure point is the receding meniscus event, which leaves residual liquid behind on the wafer as a thin film or droplets. Ideally, the immersion fluid should be confined near the lens, allowing the wafer to scan smoothly during exposure. For a semiconductor manufacturer, the meniscus failure mechanism remained a significant hurdle, hindering the successful implementation of immersion lithography. Recognizing the critical role of surface forces in drainage and pattern collapse during lithography, they sought a solution from a laboratory. The scientists, understanding the importance, developed a new fluid formulation with precisely tailored surface tension characteristics that facilitated proper liquid drainage, eliminating the meniscus issue.

Challenge: A ship painting company faced uneven surface coatings due to the coating fluid’s viscosity, surface tension, and the substrate’s contact angle.

Solution: The company’s engineering team discovered that using a coating liquid with a contact angle less than 90° caused a pinning effect, reducing surface unevenness. By adjusting the contact angle to create this effect, they mitigated the impact of uneven coatings, leveraging the interplay between fluid viscosity and the substrate’s surface energy.

Challenge: Water ingress into cables affects signal transmission.

Solution: Optimizing the surface tension values can prevent water ingress into cables. Lowering surface tension enhances the water-repellent properties of cable insulation. A telecommunications cable manufacturer develops cables with insulation materials specially designed with low surface tension. This kind of modification will improve water resistance which will reduce the risk of signal degradation in humid environments and ensure the long-term reliability of the communication infrastructure.