EPSRC logo

Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/L50020/01
Title: COLLOIDAL PARTICLES AT FLUID INTERFACES
Principal Investigator: Clint, Dr JH
Other Investigators:
Aveyard, Professor R
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Chemistry
Organisation: University of Hull
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 May 1997 Ends: 30 April 1999 Value (£): 110,321
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Complex fluids & soft solids
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Particles at fluid / fluid interfaces have both academic and industrial importance. The wettability of a particle at an interface determines the strength of attachment to the interface. Wettabilites can be crucially affected by the existence of a line tension (t) in the fluid / fluid / solid contact line around the particle, particularly if t is high and / or the particle is small. Few experimental values for such line tensions are available in the literature and those that do exist are widely disparate. The project, which is a melding of modelling, theory and experiment, is intended to provide both theoretical and experimental line tensions for colloidal and larger particles resting at fluid / fluid interfaces. Experimental line tensions will be determined using a film balance technique recently devised by us. We have shown that the contact angle of a liquid surface with a spherical particle does not change continuously to 0 or 180 as t is increased but that wetting / drying transition occurs. The existence of such transitions will be investigated both experimentally and by computer modelling.Of particular interest will be systems where the particles reach diameters a few times that of molecules of the supporting liquid, where the simple concept of a contact line becomes ill-defined.
Key Findings
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Potential use in non-academic contexts
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Impacts
Description This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Summary
Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Project URL:  
Further Information:  
Organisation Website: http://www.hull.ac.uk