With Advance – Drop Shape, Krüss has developed a new, innovative software package for measuring contact angle and determining surface free energy (SFE). Advance – Drop Shape is a common software platform for all Krüss laboratory instruments and mobile solutions for analysing the wetting of solid surfaces.
Krüss has developed a new operating concept for the Advance software in which the intelligent user interface is organically oriented to follow the workflow of a measurement. The relevant areas of the surface for the particular step are arranged in a 2x2 tile matrix and scroll automatically into focus. Only the functions relevant in the context are visible on the screen. Like a modern tablet, Advance uses no menu ribbons or pop-up windows.
The database design with rapid access to measurements and results is also clearly arranged. This includes prepared and flexibly modifiable templates for new measurements that ensure exact reproducibility of measuring conditions. The associated image for each measurement is displayed when presenting the results, and can be subsequently re-evaluated at any time using different parameters or methods. There is no need for the tedious saving, loading and management of image files.
With just a few steps, automatic sequences can be created, which include sample positioning, the dosing of various liquids, drop shape analysis and calculation of the SFE. Every single step in such an automation can be repeated as often as necessary. It can also be connected with waiting times or linked to events, such as the dosing needle entering the video image. This provides great flexibility in adapting the automation to the particular analysis.
The analysis of the video image of a drop on a solid surface is the most important step in contact angle measurement. Krüss has optimised the image evaluation performance so that even images with low contrast, reflections or interference due to other objects can be analysed reliably and precisely. The software almost always evaluates the image automatically and ensures objective results which are independent of user intervention.
The live image displays analysed drop shapes and the contact angle very clearly and continuously updates the image content. A special innovation for measurements carried out with Krüss Drop Shape Analysers is the automatic background recording of the camera image. This even takes place when no measurement is running. As with modern video recorders, the live image can be paused in order to analyse the preceding period or to save it as a video. This prevents valuable information from being lost, for example if no measurement has been started at the instant of wetting.
Advance – Drop Shape works with all common, scientific models for calculating the SFE from contact angles. Krüss has stored the necessary physical liquid data in a comprehensive substance database which can be expanded at will. The precise measurement of surface tension of a pendant drop using Krüss Drop Shape Analysers enhances the functional scope and enables the interaction between solid surface and liquid to be comprehensively analysed. This makes the characterisation of the adhesion of a coating or adhesive bond possible, for example.
