Study of the Adhesion Force of Asphaltene Aggregates to Metallic Surfaces of Fe and Al

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to measure the adhesion force of asphaltene aggregates to metallic surfaces of aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. A simple analytical expression based on Lindhard's continuum planar potential (CPP) approximation that incorporates the effect of the surrounding fluid (a solvent) and has no fitting parameters was developed and tested with the experimental results. This expression provided predictions in good agreement with measured data.