Effect of contact angle on capillary displacement curvatures in pore throats formed by spheres

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1994 · Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1006/jcis.1994.1402· OSTI ID:6899285

Mason, G ^[1]; Morrow, N R ^[2]

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1. Loughborough Univ. of Technology, Leicestershire (United Kingdom). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
2. Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)

The curvature of an interface in a pore depends upon the shape of the pore and the operative contact angle that the interface makes with the solid surface. Even relatively simple pores formed by the surfaces of equal spheres have a complex shape including nonaxisymmetric cross-section and converging-diverging geometry. For such pores, a theory for meniscus behavior has been devised that uses a combination of a theory for meniscus curvature in rods together with the toroidal approximation of Purcell. The results of the theory show that converging-diverging geometry tends to compensate for the effect of contact angle. This is because the position at which the nonzero contact angle meniscus has maximum curvature in a converging-diverging pore is not the narrowest part of the pore throat. Due to this compensation, the effect of contact angle on maximum meniscus curvatures for drainage is approximately proportional to cos 2/3 [theta] (rather than the cos [theta] appropriate for cylindrical tubes). Experiments on pores formed by PTFE spheres using partially wetting liquids confirmed the theoretical prediction. Contact angle measurements on the PTFE spheres also demonstrated that, because of microscopic surface roughness, receding contact angles (these being operative with respect to drainage) on ground surfaces are significantly lower than values for smooth surfaces.

• OSTI ID: 6899285
• Journal Information: Journal of Colloid and Interface Science; (United States), Vol. 168:1; ISSN 0021-9797
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
POROUS MATERIALS
CAPILLARY FLOW
POLYTETRAFLUOROETHYLENE
PORE STRUCTURE
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
WETTABILITY
CONFIGURATION
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
FLUORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
MATERIALS
MICROSTRUCTURE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
POLYETHYLENES
POLYMERS
POLYOLEFINS
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