Quantification of adhesion force using a force tensiometer and influence of surrounding medium for a liquid droplet over a solid surface*

Surface wetting and surface adhesion have gained major attention over the past few decades. This is primarily due to the plethora of applications based on liquid-solid interactions such as droplet transportation, superhydrophobic and self-cleaning surfaces to name a few. Recently, to characterize these surfaces, a few studies previously have measured the adhesion force using a force tensiometer and studied the modified surface properties of the surface based on adhesion force. The details of the technique and findings of these studies are still limited in the public domain. This paper outlines proposed necessary and precise steps to quantify the magnitude of adhesion force directly and the parameters that affect the magnitude of adhesion force, such as droplet volume and compression value are also taken into account. Moreover, this work takes into consideration the effect of the surrounding medium on adhesion force. This aspect is achieved by performing experiments under a liquid medium and observing the influence of other forces like buoyancy.