Date of Award
2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Chemical and Material Engineering
Committee Chair
Ramon Cerro
Committee Member
Chien-Pin Chen
Committee Member
Emanuel A. Waddell
Subject(s)
Capillarity, Surfaces, Surface chemistry
Abstract
Wetting and capillary phenomena are important components of chemical engineering processes. Most if not all wetting and capillary phenomena can be explained based on three fundamental tools: (1) the Young-Laplace equation describing curvature of interfaces, (2) the static contact angle relating macroscopic measurements to molecular forces and (3) the effect of solid surface microstructures on interfaces near the three-phase contact line. To understand the role of surface microstructure this thesis revisited a series of experiments started by Brook Taylor and reported by Francis Hauksbee (1712) more than 300 years ago on capillary rise between glass planes forming a narrow wedge and in parallel configuration. New experiments plus theoretical analysis and computational work were performed to develop better understanding of the role of solid microstructure on extreme capillary phenomena such as super-hydrophobic surfaces and to explain the puzzling character of the most interesting experiments performed by Hauksbee (1713b).
Recommended Citation
Sanchez Santiago, Javier, "Role of surface topology on wetting of complex surfaces" (2013). Theses. 11.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/11