Determination of surface tension and contact angle from the shapes of axisymmetric fluid interfaces without use of apex coordinates.

Drop shape techniques, such as axisymmetric drop shape analysis, are widely used to measure surface properties, as they are accurate and reliable. Nevertheless, they are not applicable in experimental studies dealing with fluid configurations that do not present an apex. A new methodology is presented for measuring interfacial properties of liquids, such as surface tension and contact angles, by analyzing the shape of an axisymmetric liquid-fluid interface without use of apex coordinates. The theoretical shape of the interface is generated numerically as a function of surface tension and some geometrical parameters at the starting point of the interface, e.g., contact angle and radius of the interface. Then, the numerical shape is fitted to the experimental profile, taking the interfacial properties as adjustable parameters. The best fit identifies the true values of surface tension and contact angle. Comparison between the experimental and the theoretical profiles is performed using the theoretical image fitting analysis (TIFA) strategy. The new method, TIFA-axisymmetric interfaces (TIFA-AI), is applicable to any axisymmetric experimental configuration (with or without apex). The versatility and accuracy of TIFA-AI is shown by considering various configurations: liquid bridges, sessile and pendant drops, and liquid lenses.