Measurement of surface tension and contact angle using entropic edge detection

• Published in: Measurement science & technology Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 288 - 298
• Main Authors: Atae-Allah, C, Cabrerizo-Vílchez, M, Gómez-Lopera, J F, Holgado-Terriza, J A, Román-Roldán, R, Luque-Escamilla, P L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.03.2001; Institute of Physics
• Subjects: Bolometer; infrared, submillimeter wave, microwave and radiowave receivers and detectors; Bolometers; infrared, submillimeter wave, microwave, and radiowave receivers and detectors; Computers in experimental physics; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Image processing; Infrared, submillimeter wave, microwave and radiowave instruments, equipment and techniques; Instrumentation for fluid dynamics; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Physics; Image processing; Data acquisition; Theoretical study; Measuring methods; Entropy; Liquid drop model; Surface tension; Contact angle; Edge detection; Surface tension measurement
• ISSN: 0957-0233; 1361-6501
• DOI: 10.1088/0957-0233/12/3/307

Presents a new method to measure the surface tension and the contact angle of a liquid. The measurement procedure comprises 3 steps: acquisition of the liquid drop image; image segmentation to obtain the contour of the drop; and surface tension and contact angle calculation by the axisymmetric drop shape analysis method. In the second step, a new segmentation method is used based on the Jensen-Shannon divergence, an entropic measurement of coherence among distribution probabilities. The advantages of using this entropic edge detection method are shown; it is especially suitable when the source image of the drop is affected by any kind of noise, blur or low-contrast effect. Results reveal a better performance than other methods used in this field. (Original abstract)