Plasma technology can be used to activate a surface which increases its surface energy, but how can you tell how much energy a surface has? One test to measure surface activation is to compute the
contact angle that a drop of water creates on a surface. The larger the angle that the drop of water creates with the surface, the less surface energy it has, meaning low adhesion capabilities. Materials that have been thoroughly activated should have a very low, almost zero,
contact angle. This indicates that the surface has a high adhesion potential. When you need an exact quantification of
surface activation,
contact angle measurements are the most precise way to calculate a surface’s adhesion capability.
How to Measure Contact Angles
Contact angles are measured by using a device called a Goniometer. This device uses a high resolution camera to zoom in and capture the image of a drop of water on a surface and then software analyzes the image and calculates the
contact angle. This type of measurement can be done here at Thierry so that our customer’s know exactly the level of activation that a material has achieved.
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