Methods to Evaluate Solid Surface Tension for Military Fabrics

The goal of this work is to develop methods to characterize the wettability of military cloth. The purpose of the work with contact angles is to determine the surface tension or surface free energy of military cloth samples. Surface tension studies were conducted to evaluate techniques to examine military fabrics. Calculation of surface tension for a solid surface was performed using various mathematical models in order to compare the answers obtained from the different models. Contact angle data were collected for the surfaces paraffin, teflon, and polystyrene then analyzed using the models of Zisman, Fowkes, Wu and Good. Dispersion, polar, and total surface tensions were predicted using these models. Factors that determine the appropriateness of which models to use when evaluating an unknown surface, such as a military fabric, are discussed. A brief section is included that pertains to the effect of different types of testing liquids pure versus mixed on the final answers obtained for surface tensions. Keywords Adhesion Contact angles Surface roughness Measurements.