In recent years, a specific Laboratory for Surface Tensiometry has been built and organised at IENI- Dept. of Genoa, with characteristics of a particular interest at an international level.
In this infrastructure, which can be defined as an "Infrastructural Center open for services to a wide Scientific Community" can offer support both experimental and scientific for measurements of Surface and Interface tensions, wettability, elasticity and surface rheology in a temperature range which span from ambient to high temperatures ( 1600°C). These measurements are also used to have access to thermodynamic and adsorption kinetics properties.
The instruments have been built, nearly totally, in house. In particular, with reference to the measurements at ambient temperature (or near- ambient T), a new Capillary Tensiometer has been designed and built, to be used for liquid-vapour and liquid-liquid measurements both in equilibrium and dynamic conditions ( adsorption), in a time scale from seconds to hours. The use of the Maximum Bubble pressure the Pendant and the Sessile Drop techniques allow a temporal scale to be milliseconds to be achieved. This Capillary Tensiometer has been implemented into special version ( by Galileo Avionica SpA) which has already worked in the Spacehab Laboratory ( Shuttle STS 95 and STS 107) and which will be working onboard the Int. Space Station, to perform an International Scientific Programme.
The central point characterising the Laboratory has been the set up of a dedicated software to perform the evaluation , in real time, of surface tension and contact angles in Sessile and Pendant Drop experiments. Thsi S/W, which makes use of image analysis techniques, is obviously used also in the high temperature applications (up to about 1600°C), dedicated to experiments on metals and alloys. These measurements are done in high vacuum furnaces, which can work also under controlled atmospheres, with a strict control of oxygen partial pressure in particular.
The Laboratory of Surface Tensiometry is baked up by analytical and characterisation techniques, going from Atomic Force Microscopy, to SEM, EDS and ICP analyses. Moreover, other techniques are available, like high temperature thermobalance, dilatometry up to 2400 °C, microhardness, RX diffraction, metallography and a special water purification set, for parallel, ancillary characterisation procedures and measurements.
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