Hydrophobic data for plastics 2

[geoffthehammer]

I posted this originally in the materials engineering forum but then realised that this one is more appropriate, so apologies for double posting:

Can anyone supply me with (or point me in the right direction for) comparative data regarding the hydrophobic/hydrophyllic characteristics of the following materials:
polycarbonate - acrylic - ptfe - pctfe.

 

[Demon3]

Yes, you need to know the surface energies for those polymers as that is the definition of hydrophobicity.

From the Polymer Handbook 4th Edition

Polycarbonate 42.9
PMMA (acrylic) 41.1
PTFE 23.9
PCTFE 30.9

All in mN/m, mJ/m2 or Dyn/cm (numerically all the same)

As you'd expect the PTFE is lowest and so most hydrophobic.

Beware that surface roughness makes a big differece to the contact angle and apparent hydrophobicity. A good book on that is Polymer Surface Modification by Chan (Hanser Gardner Publishers).

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