- Porosimetry
Porosimetry is an analytical technique used to determine various quantifiable aspects of a material's porous nature, such as pore diameter, total pore volume,
surface area , and bulk and absolute densities.The technique involves the intrusion of a non-wetting liquid (often mercury) at high
pressure into a material through the use of a porosimeter. The pore size can be determined based on the external pressure needed to force the liquid into a pore against the opposing force of the liquid's surface tension.A
force balance equation known as (Washburn's equation ) for the above material having cylindrical pores is given as::
:"P"L = pressure of liquid:"P"G = pressure of gas:"σ" = surface tension of liquid:"θ" = contact angle of intrusion liquid:"D"P = pore diameter
Since the technique is usually done under
vacuum , the gas pressure begins at zero. Thecontact angle of mercury with most solids is between 135° and 142°, so an average of 140° can be taken without much error. Thesurface tension of mercury at 20 °C under vacuum is 480 mN/m. With the various substitutions, the equation becomes::
As pressure increases, so does the cumulative pore volume. From the cumulative pore volume, one can find the pressure and pore diameter where 50% of the total volume has been added to give you the median pore diameter.
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