Axisymmetric drop shape analysis as penetration Langmuir balance

A new Langmuir-type pendant-drop penetration film balance has been developed combining a Langmuir-type pendant-drop film balance with a new rapid-subphase-exchange technique. In addition to the determination of surface pressure-molecular area isotherms of insoluble monolayers deposited on the surface of a pendant drop, it allows the study of reactions with some surfactant added to the subphase. The monolayer is spread on the surface of a drop suspended from a capillary, which is the outer one of an arrangement of two coaxial capillaries connected to the different branches of a microinjector. Once the film is brought to the desired state of compression by varying the drop volume with the microinjector, the subphase liquid in the drop can be exchanged quantitatively by means of the coaxial capillaries. This exchange is complete for a through-flow of at least three times the drop volume, and the monolayers endure it at all tested film pressures. The determination of surface tension as a function of surface area is performed using axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA) The complete set-up, i. e., the image capturing and microinjector system is fully computer controlled by a user-friendly and fully Windows integrated program, including the ADSA surface tension calculus algorithm. As a penetration film balance, pendant-drop methodologies offer a wide range of advantages such as a more stringent control of the environmental conditions and therefore, more uniform temperature, pressure and concentration along the interface, small amounts of material needed, and a 20 times greater interface/volume ratio than in conventional Langmuir toughs. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)02605-2].