Research and Development

Ebatco offers a variety of micro- and nano- mechanical testing instruments that our team of scientists expertly operate to complete projects for research and development teams. High quality material testing can be a crucial part of turning ideas into reality by ensuring that each material aspect of the product will both function correctly and offer longevity. Research and development is an important and challenging part of designing a new product and Ebatco wants to make sure that the ideal product can be taken to market.

Material testing is critical to ensure that your newly developed product has all of the desired characteristics to guarantee it operates as desired. Whether the new product is intended for specialized use or the general public, it must be able to properly operate in the desired conditions. With a professional testing report from Ebatco, gain confidence that the developing product has the desired material characteristics.

Our mechanical testing instrumentation can be used to calculate a wide range of mechanical properties including: zeta potential, contact angle, surface free energy, and many other properties that will allow for a greater understanding of behavior. If you have any questions about the services or instrumentation available at Ebatco, feel free to call or email and a member of our team will be able to further assist you.

Applications

For more information, please read our application notes:
Advancing and Receding Angles of Biomedical Catheters
Advancing, Receding and Roll-off Angle Measurements through Sliding Angle Method
Density and Surface Tension of Ink
Dynamic Surface Tension of an Aqueous Detergent Solution
Fracture Failure Analysis of Steel Wire
Friction of Contact Lenses in Saline Solution
Low Vacuum SEM Analysis of Biological Sample – Goldenrod Flower
Micro Contact Angle Measurements on Single Particles, Filaments and Patterned Surfaces
Nano/micro Pore Size and Pore Size Distribution Measurement
Nanoparticle Sizing through Dynamic Light Scattering
Optical Inspection and Profiling of Defects on a Coated Wafer Surface
SEM EDS Analysis of Bicentennial Penny Patina
SEM EDS Analysis on Scratch Failure of PTFE Coated Stainless Steel Guide Wire
Surface Free Energy Analysis of Gelatin Samples
Viscosity of Motor Oil as a Function of Temperature
Wear Resistance Evaluation and Debris Generation Study through Nano Wear
Zeta Potentials of Solid Surfaces
Zeta Potential of Silica Slurry as a Function of pH
All application notes can be found here

Friction of Contact Lenses in Saline Solution

Friction is a measure of a surface’s resistance to motion. When two surfaces are rubbing against each other, friction acts as the force to prevent the two surfaces from moving in a given direction. Continued relative motion leads to material loss or wear of the surface and its friction counterpart. Over time, a surface will degrade to a point that renders the surface unusable for its designed application. Altering the surface chemistry can change the friction properties to better suit the application needs and help to prolong the material’s useful life.

The TS-501 Triboster, manufactured by Kyowa Interface Science Co., Ltd., is capable of measuring both the static and kinetic friction coefficients of a material surface in a single pass or multiple passes under dry or lubricated conditions with temperature control from room temperature to 180ºC. The high sensitivity friction transducer and low loads employed by the TS-501 allow for softer materials like polymers, fabrics and thin films to be tested with ease and accuracy. The velocity of the stage is automatically controlled by user input values from 0.02mm/s to 100mm/s.

Most of the disposable contact lenses are made of extremely soft hydrogels with a significant amount of water content. Wearing contact lenses is becoming trendy for people whether it is for cosmetic, corrective or therapeutic reasons. In addition to many designed functionalities of the contact lenses wearing comfort is a key factor to be well controlled by the contact lens designer. One of the aspects of the wearer’s comfort is the friction between eyelid and the contact lens.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, and Table 1, two different kinds of commercially available contact lenses from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. were tested for friction using the TS-501. The first kind of contact lens tested was 1-Day Acuvue TruEye disposable contact lens. The second kind of contact lens was Acuvue Oaysis Hydraclear Plus disposable contact lens. Both kinds of contact lenses were tested under the same conditions and parameters sliding against glass slide in saline contact lens solution. From the results it is obvious that the static and kinetic friction coefficients for the two kinds of contact lenses are different. The different friction coefficients would result in different wearing comfort for people.