Bubble pressure tensiometer

A bubble pressure tensiometer is an instrument for determining the dynamic surface tension. The
maximum internal pressure of a gas bubble which is formed in a liquid by means of a capillary is
measured.

Background
According to the Young-Laplace equation, the internal pressure p of a spherical gas bubble
(Laplace pressure) depends on the radius of curvature r and the surface tension σ.

When a gas bubble is produced in a liquid at the tip of a capillary, the curvature initially
increases and then decreases, resulting in the occurrence of a pressure maximum. The
greatest curvature and therefore the greatest pressure occurs when the radius of curvature is
equal to the radius of the capillary.
Pressure characteristic for the bubble pressure measurement, position of pressure maximum

The radius of the capillary is determined with a reference measurement carried out with a liquid
with known surface tension, usually water. Once the radius is known, the surface tension can be
calculated from the pressure maximum Pmax. The hydrostatic pressure P0 due to the
immersion of the capillary must be subtracted from the measured pressure (which is done
automatically with state-of-the-art instruments). This results in the following formula for the
bubble pressure measurement:

Analyzing the dynamic behavior of surfactants

The measured value corresponds to the surface tension at a certain surface age, the time from
the start of the bubble formation to the occurrence of the pressure maximum. The dependence
of surface tension on surface age can be measured by varying the speed at which bubbles are
produced.

Dependency of the surface tension on the surface age

This dependency plays an important part in the use of surfactants, as in many processes the
equilibrium value of the interfacial tension is never reached due to the sometimes low surfactant
diffusion and adsorption rates.
Bubble pressure measurements enable surfactant rate parameters such as the diffusion
coefficient and the adsorption coefficient to be calculated.
 
 
Determining the surfactant content in cleaning and coating baths
Measurements of the dynamic surface tension are also used for an indirect determination of the
concentration of cleaning or wetting agents in industrial baths. The concentration in such liquids
usually lies above the critical micelle concentration (CMC), i.e. in a range where the static SFT
does not change with increasing concentration. However, this does not apply to the dynamic
SFT, which shows a strong dependency on the concentration at short surface ages. When
recording measuring curves in a wide dynamic range from short to long surface ages for
different surfactant concentrations (see figure above), the optimal surface age and a calibration
curve can be obtained and then used for quality control of cleaning or coating baths by carrying
out single-point measurements.
 

Related products

BP100
Analysis of surfactant solutions for dynamic processes
 BPT Mobile
Mobile quality control for cleaning and coating baths