IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,852,585
Granted Patent B2
US 11,852,585 · App. 17/502,632 · Granted Dec 26, 2023

Compositions and methods for evaluation of liquid contact angle properties

Inventors: Iltai Isaac Kim (College Station, TX); Yang Lie (College Station, TX); Jae Sung Park (College Station, TX)
Assignee: THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
G01N21/552G01B11/06G01N21/958G01N2021/555
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,852,585
App. No.
17/502,632
Granted
Dec 26, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods for evaluating features of objects such as liquid droplets and surfaces. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods for measuring features such as the contact angle and the thickness of an object such as a liquid droplet or a fingerprint as well as related compositions for evaluation.

Claims (22)

1. A method of measuring a contact angle of a liquid droplet, said method comprising the steps of

analyzing the liquid droplet using aperture total internal reflection (A-TIR), wherein the A-TIR comprises placement of one or more apertures in front of a detector in total internal reflection (TIR) configuration, wherein at least two apertures are utilized and

calculating the contact angle based on the analysis.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact angle is between 0 degrees and 90 degrees.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contact angle is less than 5 degrees.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature is thickness of the liquid droplet.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the thickness is a microscale thickness.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the object is a surface, and wherein the surface is a fingerprint surface or a coated surface.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the calculating comprises use of one or more algorithms.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises optical reflection.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises a refractive index.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises reflection interference.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises transmission interference.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises ray tracing.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises optical ray tracing.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises 3-D ray tracing.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analysis comprises Fizeau interferometry.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method provides real-time monitoring of the contact angle.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method provides full-field monitoring of the contact angle.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is capable of measuring a contact angle from 2.5 to 17 degrees.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is capable of measuring a contact angle of 1 degree.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises analysis considering morphological features selected from the group consisting of thickness, surface coverage fraction, effective flatness ratio, Goos-Hänchen shift ratio, and any combination thereof.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 31, 2023
From: KIM, ILTAI ISAAC; LIE, YANG; PARK, JAE SUNG
To: THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Reel/Frame 065404/0349 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63092604 · Oct 16, 2020
Related Publication 20220120681A1 · Apr 21, 2022