The combined effect of roughness and heterogeneity on contact angles: the case of polymer coating for stone protection

Abstract

The individual effects of heterogeneity and roughness on contact angles have been repeatedly analysed in the literature, but the application of the accepted models to practical situations is often not correctly performed. In the present paper the combined effects of roughness and heterogeneity on the contact angles of water on stone surfaces protected by a hydrophobic polymer coating are considered. Two different kinds of calcareous stone with different surface roughnesses and porosities were protected against the effect of water absorption by two different polymer coatings. The contact angles of water on the protected stone surfaces were measured by the Wilhelmy and the sessile drop techniques. A comparison of the results obtained shows not only the limits of the static sessile drop technique, but also the combined effect of roughness and heterogeneity. Some considerations are developed on the application of commonly accepted models to surfaces with a combination of roughness and heterogeneity. Some other results obtained with techniques such as roughness measurements, mercury porosimetry, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), water absorption by capillarity experiments (WAC), all able to show the structure and properties of the obtained films, are also compared with those obtained from contact angle measurements. It is concluded that the static contact angle is not well correlated with the degree of protection; on the contrary, the receding contact angles are well correlated with the degree of protection actually obtained. An ideal protecting agent should have a receding contact angle greater than 90°.