Water contact angle on corresponding surfaces of freshly fractured fluorite, calcite and mica

Advancing and receding contact angles of water with corresponding surfaces of freshly fractured calcite, fluorite and mica were measured. The corresponding surfaces were obtained by mechanical splitting of a small lump of each mineral into two pieces. Theoretical considerations revealed that depending on the mineral cleaving plane, surfaces created by splitting into halves can be either identical or entirely different as far as their surface chemical composition is concerned. It was experimentally established that receding and advancing contact angles measured on the corresponding surfaces of fluorite, calcite and mica were identical for the sessile drop method. When the contact angle was measured by the captive bubble approach, there were small differences in the contact angles measured on the corresponding surfaces of fluorite. It was most probably due to surface irregularities and roughness, and therefore different times needed to rupture the liquid film between the bubble and solid surface.