title: Wettability of a surface subjected to high frequency mechanical vibrations.
abstract: Ultrasonic radiation can modify some physical properties in liquid/solid interactions, such as wettability. The dependence of solid surface wettability on its vibrational state was studied. Experiments with an interface formed by distilled water deposited on a titanium alloy and surrounded by air were carried out. It is shown that it is possible to control the apparent wettability of a given liquid/solid/gas system by applying sonic-ultrasonic vibrations of controlled amplitude at the interface. The system studied is composed of a drop of distilled water deposited on a flat titanium surface in air. The contact angle was used as an indicator of apparent wettability. It is shown that the apparent wettability of a surface is linearly dependent on the peak vibration velocity and independent of the vibration frequency. Higher vibration speed lowers the contact angle and therefore causes greater surface wettability.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ultrasonidos, Departamento de Física, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Av. Ecuador 3493, Estación Central, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: renato.galleguillos@usach.cl.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galleguillos-Silva
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ultrasonidos, Departamento de Física, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Av. Ecuador 3493, Estación Central, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Vargas-Hernández
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ultrasonidos, Departamento de Física, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Av. Ecuador 3493, Estación Central, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gaete-Garretón
keywords: Contact angle; Ultrasounds; Wettability