The effect of viscosity on surface tension measurements by the drop weight method

Viscosity is one of the parameters affecting the measured surface tension, as fluid mechanics affects the measurement process using conventional methods. Several methods including the selected planes (SPM) and WDSM which combines the weight drop method (WDM) and SPM, are applied to surface tension measurement of high viscous liquids. Yet, none of them treats the viscosity effect separately. The current publication presents a simple, easy to apply empirical approach of satisfactory accuracy, for evaluation of surface tension of liquids having wide range of viscosities up to 10 Pa s. The proposed method is based on Tate's law and the drop weight method using calibration curves of known liquids having similar surface tensions but different viscosities. Drop weight of liquids having viscosity >= 0.05 Pa s, was found to be significantly affected by the liquid viscosity. The shape factor, f, of high viscosity liquids was found to correlate linearly with the logarithm of viscosity, pointing the importance of viscosity correction. The experimental correlation presented in the current work can be used as a tool for the evaluation of surface tension for high viscosity liquids such as prepolymers. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.