The determination of surface tension at elevated temperatures by drop image analysis

Abstract

The advantages of image analysis as applied to surface tension measurements by the sessile drop technique are discussed. It is demonstrated that valuable effective improvements of dimensional resolution are obtained. Errors in surface tension arising from various unavoidable sources such as chemical reactions or optical distortions are shown to be the main difficulties in applying the sessile drop technique at high temperature. This suggests a limiting spatial resolution of the digitizer beyond which no further improvements to the accuracy of the surface tension results are possible. The technique has been applied to determine the surface tension of liquid Cu, Bi and Ag as well as a series of sodium borosilicate glasses.