Drop size dependence of soil-water contact angle in relation to the droplet geometry and line tension

The soil-water contact angle is used as a measure of the surface hydrophobicity of soils. The contact angle for particular solid–liquid combination is considered to vary with the drop size. In this paper, we focused on examining the drop size dependence of contact angle on soil surfaces compared with homogeneous solid surfaces, and determining its relation to the droplet geometry and line tension. The contact angle estimated using geometric parameters of the droplets (θ _G) showed decreasing trend with increasing drop size from 5 to 50?µL irrespective of the deformations in the droplet shape in larger drops. This was considered to be a result of the corresponding deviations of the geometric parameters of the droplets. The directly measured contact angle (θ _A) first decreased and then increased with increasing drop size from 5 to 50?µL. The drop size at lowest θ _A for hydrophobized silica sand with 1?g?kg^–1 stearic acid (SA) and the acryl surfaces was 20?µL, whereas that for hydrophobized silica sand with 5?g?kg^–1 SA and siliconed paper was 30?µL. The decrease in θ _A with increasing drop size was explained as a result of the line tension effect using the modified Young's equation. Despite the surface heterogeneity, all the surfaces tested in this study showed positive line tensions on the order of 10?µJ?m^–1. Irrespective of the heterogeneity of the surfaces, the θ _A in this experiment agreed with the modified Young's equation for drop sizes up to about 20–30?µL, where the θ _A and θ _G were also in good agreement. Drop size dependence of contact angle was independent of the level of surface hydrophobicity. The θ _A on all the examined surfaces started to increase with increasing drop size when the deformation index, I _d, exceeded 5%, where the wetting radius, R exceeded the capillary length. The increase in θ _A with increasing drop size was attributed to the deformations of water drops due to the effect of gravity.     

Time dependence of contact angle and its relation to repellency persistence in hydrophobized sand

Soil water repellency is a transient soil property varying with soil–water contact time. The purpose of the present study was to determine the time dependence of the sessile drop contact angle and its relation to repellency persistence estimated using the water drop penetration time (WDPT) test with hydrophobized sand. The contact angle decreased exponentially and almost reached apparent equilibrium after 20 min of soil–water contact time. Time dependence of the contact angle can mainly be attributed to the adsorption of water molecules onto low-energy hydrophobic organic matter surfaces. Contact angles initially greater than 90° decreased to less than 90° within about 40 s. However, the WDPT of these samples was longer than 3600 s. The WDPT responded to the initial contact angle, but not to the contact angle decreased with soil–water contact time. This was considered to be caused by differences in the surface free energy between the surface and the lower layers. Repellency persistence, or the WDPT, can be considered to be the time taken to increase the surface free energy to overcome water repellency, not only on the surface in contact with the droplet, but also in the adjacent layers below the surface.     

Stability analysis of aggregates in relation to the hydrophobicity of organic manure for Sri Lankan Red Yellow Podzolic soils

Aggregate slaking is linked with rapid pressure buildup within aggregates. Soil water repellency may help hamper the pressure buildup within aggregates by reducing their wetting rates. We examined the effects of animal manure in improving aggregate stability, the hydrophobic effects of green manure, and the possibility of using organic manure mixtures to increase the aggregate stability for Sri Lankan red yellow podzolic soils using model aggregates. Almost all the cow dung (CD) added samples showed extremely low percentages of water stable aggregates (%WSA) demonstrating rapid destruction of aggregates. Although the addition of ≥ 10% goat dung (GD) improved the %WSA, aggregate floating occurred, showing the risk of aggregate floating with runoff water. Addition of 5% GD would be an acceptable solution if the %WSA can be improved. Casuarina equisetifolia L. leaves (CE) was found to be a hydrophobic green manure. Although addition of ≥ 5% CE increased the %WSA up to about 90%, aggregate floating occurred. The possibility of improving %WSA using 1–2% hydrophobic green manure in organic manures mixtures was tested. Samples with 5% GD + 2% CE manure mixture showed the highest and the most stable %WSA without showing aggregate floating. Additions of compost and poultry litter were found not to be effective in improving aggregate stability with or without CE. Strong or higher water repellency was not observed in any of the samples with manure mixtures, showing that the addition of 1–2% hydrophobic CE would not induce detrimental effects of water repellency. There was no clear correlation between %WSA and the hydrophobicity of soils. However, the %WSA can be considered to show a tendency to increase with increasing hydrophobicity, because the %WSA was very high in samples with hydrophobic CE, the %WSA increased when mixed with 1–2% CE, and samples with highest water drop penetration time (WDPT) among all the manure mixtures showed the highest %WSA.     

Effects of hydrophobic and hydrophilic organic matter on the water repellency of model sandy soils

Soil water repellency affects the hydrological functions of soil systems. Water repellency is associated with the content and the composition of soil organic matter. In the present study, we examined the effects of hydrophobic and hydrophilic organic matter contents, the hydrophobic/hydrophilic organic matter ratio and the total organic matter content on water repellency using model sandy soils. Stearic acid and guar gum were used as the hydrophobic and hydrophilic organic compounds, respectively. Water repellency was estimated using the sessile drop method. Hydrophobic organic matter content was found to be the dominant factor affecting soil water repellency. Hydrophilic organic matter was found to increase the contact angle to some extent without the presence of hydrophobic organic matter. With the presence of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic organic matter, the effects of the hydrophilic organic matter content on contact angle were found to be dependent on the hydrophobic organic matter content of the soil. This relationship was explained by the differences in the surface free energies of different organic matter and mineral surfaces. The contact angle increased with increasing hydrophobic/hydrophilic organic matter ratio when the hydrophilic organic matter content was constant. When the hydrophobic organic matter content was constant, contact angles were roughly comparable, irrespective of the hydrophobic/hydrophilic organic matter ratio. The contact angles were not comparable at each total organic matter content. Accordingly, the hydrophobic/hydrophilic organic matter ratio and the total organic matter content in soil may not provide satisfactory information about soil water repellency.