Features & Benefits
Incredibly easy to use
- Theta Lite is controlled with OneAttension software that has been designed for extreme user-friendliness. OneAttension analyzes your results in real time and includes a batch quality control measurement mode for efficient industrial surface quality control.
- No complicated adjustments needed, the system comes fully assembled and ready to perform.
Packed with smart features
- For example, the automatic disposable tip dispenser ensures you don’t need to worry about cleaning as droplets are created precisely using a disposable pipette tip. The droplet volume is calculated from the real time image with advanced machine vision to ensure repeatability.
Designed for high accuracy
- Precise automated or manual droplet deposition will keep the droplet volume the same each time to minimize any result variation.
- Theta Lite’s camera captures the extremely fast wetting phenomena up to 2068 fps and performs exceptionally precise drop shape analyses with 1280 x 1024 pixel resolution. Included in every Attension® Theta Lite system as a default.
Applications
Optical contact angle meters are used in a great variety of industries such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, foods, energy, paper and packaging.
Theta Lite is a compact and robust optical tensiometer for simple and precise operations. It comes with a manual sample stage and liquid dispenser, making it a convenient entry-level instrument for routine measurements, educational use and quality control. It enables investigation of material properties such as:
- Wettability
- Adhesion
- Homogeneity
- Spreading
- Cleanliness
- Printability
- Adsorption
Product details
Theta Lite measures contact angle, surface free energy, dynamic contact angles, surface tension and interfacial tension. The available drop profiles are: sessile drop, pendant drop, meniscus, captive bubble and reverse pendant drop. Advancing and receding contact angles can also be studied automatically or manually. The instrument comes with a manual sample stage and an automated or manual liquid dispenser, making it a convenient entry-level instrument for research, industrial processes and educational use.
Theta Lite has an open design that allows easy manipulation of samples and easy access to the instrument. As an optical instrument, all measurement depends on precision, high-quality imaging and effective analytical software. Attension optical tensiometers use a source of cold monochromatic LED light and a smooth lighting integration sphere that reduces sample evaporation. High image quality is guaranteed with a high-resolution digital camera and rapid data transfer between the computer and the instrument.
The system comes with OneAttension control software for analysis of drop shapes. It uses for example the Young-Laplace equation as a reference method and can fit the entire drop profile. It offers performance and simplicity:
- Automatic base line detection and drop shape fitting
- Contact angle on curved surfaces (circular or near-circular)
Flexible and programmable frame per second rate recorded by the camera
- Parameters and experimental settings such as material and liquid used can be saved as recipes for further use
OneAttension features an intuitive user interface, live analysis, configurable user groups and accounts and a preset liquid database. Any datapoint or groups of datapoints can be selected, transformed, plotted and analyzed. In-depth analysis takes seconds and data can be easily exported.
Measuring chambers, cuvettes and other accessories are available to add capabilities to your Theta Lite.
Application examples
Contact angle measurements in microfluidics
Microfluidics studies the behavior of fluids (liquid and gases) in micrometer scale structures. The behavior of fluids differs significantly when moving from macro-sized systems to micro-sized devices due to increased surface to volume ratio. Factors such as surface tension and fluidic resistance start to dominate the system. The main application areas for microfluidics are pharmaceutical and biological research as well as in diagnostics. Applications can also be found in the energy and electronic sectors.
Contact angle measurements are important in microfluidic research and quality control since surfaces with different wettabilities are often utilized in microfluidic chips.
For a more detailed example of contact angle measurements in microfluidics, see:
Application Note 15 — Contact Angle Measurements for Research, Product Development and Quality Control of Microfluidic Chips
Contact angle for surface homogeneity and cleanliness control
There are several situations when a surface has to be optimally clean for processing or further use, for example semiconductor industry wafers and packaging materials for food and pharmaceutical products. The efficiency of cleaning formulations can be evaluated by determining how well a surface has been cleaned after it has been contaminated—for example, textiles, porcelain, windows, floor and wall tiles.
Contact angle is one of the most sensitive of all surface analytical techniques since already the top nanometer of the surface influences wetting behavior. Contact angle and surface free energy measurements are commonly utilized as a simple and fast measuring technique when studying surface heterogeneity and cleanliness.
