Description of the three-phase contact line expansion

Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague, Czech Republic

^a Corresponding author: tereza.vachova@vscht.cz

Published online: 25 March 2014

Abstract

Knowledge of bubble-particle interaction is important in many industrial processes such as in flotation. While the collision (first interaction sub-process) between bubbles and particles is influenced only by hydrodynamic forces, the bubble behaviour during the attachment (second sub-process) is influenced both by hydrodynamic and surface forces. This work is focused on the study of the three-phase contact (TPC) line expansion during bubble adhesion on hydrophobic surface and on its experimental and mathematical description. The experiments were carried out in pure water where mobile bubble surface is expected. The rising bubble was studied in dynamic arrangement, whereas the stationary bubble was analysed in static arrangement. The attachment process was recorded using a high-speed digital camera and evaluated using image analysis. The diameter of the expanding TPC line as well as the dynamic contact angle was determined. Two approaches - the hydrodynamic and the molecular-kinetic - were used for mathematical description of the TPC line expansion. According to our results, the hydrodynamic model is suitable for the description of the initial fast phase of the expansion. The molecular-kinetic model was assessed as appropriate for almost whole range of TPC expansion. Parameters of the model were evaluated and compared for both types of arrangement.