The wettability of polytetrafluoroethylene and polymethylmethacrylate by aqueous solutions of Triton X-100 and short chain alcohol mixtures

Measurements of advancing contact angles (θ) were carried out for aqueous solutions of Triton X-100 (TX-100) and methanol and ethanol mixtures at constant TX-100 concentration equal to 1 × 10−7, 1 × 10−6, 1 × 10−5, 1 × 10−4, 6 × 10−4 and 1 × 10−3 M, respectively, on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). Using measured contact angle values the relationships between cos θ, adhesion tension and surface tension of the solutions were determined, and on their basis the critical surface tension of PTFE and PMMA wetting was calculated. The obtained average value of the critical surface tension of PTFE wetting is lying in the range of the PTFE surface tension values which can be found in the literature, while for PMMA it is even lower than the Lifshitz-van der Waals component of its surface tension. From the relationship between the adhesion and surface tension and Lucassen-Reynders equation it results that in the case of PTFE the adsorption at the PTFE-solution and solution-air interfaces is the same, which was confirmed by a linear relationship between the cos θ and 1/γLV and intercept on cos θ axis equal to −1. However, for PMMA the adsorption of the surface active agents at solution-air interface is higher than at PMMA-solution. Using the values of the contact angle the values of the adhesion work of solution to the PTFE and PMMA surface were also determined, which are constant for PTFE, but for PMMA decrease with alcohol concentration increase. Next, using the contact angle values in the Young equation, the PTFE(PMMA)-solution interface tension was also calculated. The obtained values of PTFE-solution interface tension were compared with those evaluated from the Szyszkowski, Connors and Fainerman and Miller equations, and good agreement between these values was observed for all series of TX-100 and alcohol mixtures at a low alcohol concentration.