Mineralisation of two phosphate ceramics in HBSS: role of albumin.

The role of albumin in the mineralisation process of commercial hydroxyapatite (HAp) and synthesised biphasic (HAp-tricalcium phosphate) ceramics in a bufferless simulated inorganic plasma (HBSS) was investigated by conventional in vitro tests and static and dynamic wettability measurements. Albumin was either pre-adsorbed or solubilised in HBSS. It was found that calcium complexation by albumin plays a key role in early mineralisation kinetics, so that mineralisation is favoured when albumin is pre-adsorbed and hindered when it is dissolved in HBSS.

Static and Dynamic Wetting Behavior of Triglycerides on Solid Surfaces.

Triglyceride wetting properties on solid surfaces of different hydro-phobicities were investigated using three different methods, namely, the sessile drop method for static contact angle measurements, the Wilhelmy method for dynamic contact angle measurements, and the captive bubble method to investigate thin triglyceride film stability. For solid surfaces having a surface free energy higher than the surface tension of triglycerides (tributyrin, tricaprylin, and triolein), a qualitative correlation was observed between wetting and solid/triglyceride relative hydrophobicities. On surfaces presenting extreme hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties, medium-chain triglycerides had a behavior similar to that of long-chain unsaturated ones.

Estimation of the Surface Properties of Styrene-Acrylonitrile Random Copolymers from Contact Angle Measurements.

The surface free energy per unit area of a solid, gamma(S), is a fundamental property of materials and determines their surface and interfacial behavior in processes like wetting and adhesion. In this study the gamma(S) of a series of styrene-acrylonitrile random copolymers is evaluated. Three different approaches are used to determine the components in which the surface free energy can be decomposed.

On the Surface Free Energy of PVC/EVA Polymer Blends: Comparison of Different Calculation Methods.

The surface free energy of polymeric films of polyvinylchloride (PVC) + poly(ethylene-co-vinylacetate) (EVA) blends was calculated using the van Oss treatment (Lifshitz and electron donor-electron acceptor components of surface free energy) and the Owens-Wendt treatment (dispersive and nondispersive components of surface free energy). Surface free energy results were found to be greatly dependent on the calculation method and on the number of standard liquids used for contact angle measurements. The nondispersive/donor-acceptor surface free energy component and the total surface free energy of polymeric films were always higher when the van Oss treatment was used compared to the Owens-Wendt treatment.

Surface Tension of Mixtures of Molecular Fluids: Comparison between the Experimental and Theoretical Study of CH4 + Kr, Kr + NO, and CH4 + NO.

We report a study of the surface tension of three binary liquid mixtures of molecular fluids. A microscopic mean field theory (MFT) has been used to calculate the theoretical results enabling the comparison with the experimental data. The mean field theory has been successfully used in the prediction of the surface properties of simple systems composed by quasi-spherical molecules.