Dynamic Spreading of Polar Liquids on Offset Papers

The aim of this study was to investigate the spreading of sessile drops of polar probe liquids (water and ethylene glycol) on pigment coated offset papers. Furthermore, existing theoretical models for spreading were applied to evaluate the experimental results. The hydrodynamic model gave a better fit to the results at lower spreading rates, while the molecular-kinetic theory gave a good fit over a larger velocity range. Factors introduced to correct for the exponential dependency on time of the drop base radius and its contact angle can be interpreted as coupled processes. Differences in the spreading between the papers were found to correlate with the acid and base components of the surface energy, rather than with differences in surface roughness. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010