Adhesion work and wettability of polytetrafluorethylene and poly(methyl methacrylate) by aqueous solutions of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and Triton X-100 mixture with ethanol

Abstract

The contact angle measurements of the aqueous solutions of p-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (TX-100) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) mixture with ethanol on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were carried out in the range of the total concentration of TX-100 and CTAB mixture from 1×10−6 to 1×10−3 M and in the whole range of ethanol concentration. In the surfactant mixture, the mole fraction of TX-100 was equal to 0.2; 0.4; 0.6 and 0.8, respectively. From the obtained results, the critical surface tension of PTFE and PMMA wetting and the adhesion work of the solutions to the polymer surface were established. The PMMA surface tension was calculated from the Neumann’s equation. It appeared that for the ethanol concentration higher than that corresponding to the association of its molecules, the surface tension of PMMA calculated from the Neumann’s equation is close to the critical surface tension of PMMA wetting. It also appeared that it is possible to predict the work of adhesion of the studied solutions to the PMMA surface by using the PMMA surface tension data determined on the basis of the van Oss et al. approach to the interfacial tension and those from the Neumann’s equation.