Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Effects in Pitch Wetting

Abstract

The wetting behavior of pitch plays an important role in impregnation processes for densification, in deposition within processing equipment for heavy hydrocarbons, and in the synthesis of new pitch-based templated carbon forms. This paper reports on an experimental and theoretical study of the fundamental wetting behavior of mesophase pitch on well- characterized flat substrates. Contact angle measurements are reported as a function of temperature, time, and substrate chemists. There is strong evidence that pitch wetting is determined both by equilibrium effects (liquid surface tension, solid surface energy and their dispersive and polar components) and by non-equilibrium effects (spreading kinetics) In the high temperature regime the surface energies of the pitch and substrate are the most important factors determining wetting behavior, while pitch viscosity plays a dominant role in the lower temperature regime where spontaneous droplet spreading rates can be extremely slow.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 28, 2003
Accession Number
ADA417482

Entities

People

  • Gernot Krammer
  • P. G. Wapner
  • R. H. Hurt
  • W. P. Hoffman

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Ceramic Materials
  • Chemistry
  • Energy
  • Equations
  • Leading Edges
  • Low Temperature
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Processing Equipment
  • Reservoirs
  • Surface Energy
  • Surface Properties
  • Surface Tension
  • Viscosity

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Marine Hydrodynamics
  • Reinforced Composite Materials