Wettability and wetting characterisation of ultrafine glass particles for particle separation technologies

Many particle separation processes are based on differences in wettabilities. Therefore, one needs to understand the interfacial properties and micro processes taking place on the material surface. The main quantity to account for wettability is the Young contact angle. However, this method requiring homogeneous flat and smooth substrates has drawbacks when analysing particles and is rather system specific as particles are not planar and exhibit rough surfaces. Here, we demonstrate the challenges of proper wettability analysis of particulate material as available methods are influenced strongly by multiple particle properties such as shape and size. Three fractions of glass particles with different shapes are investigated, fibres, fragments, spheres, and their wettability is modified by esterification with alcohols. These particle systems are characterised via analytic particle solvent extraction, static and dynamic contact angle measurements, and inverse gas chromatography. Alcohols with longer alkyl chains result in more hydrophobic particles with more homogeneous wettability characteristics in terms of surface energy. Comparing the characterisation methods reveals the influence of particle morphology on the interfacial wetting behaviour. Applying inverse gas chromatography for wettability characterisation in combination with the other methods underlines its potentials as well as limitations in understanding particulate surface properties.