really technical question about waxes/sealants

Here's a link to a full size picture of the test panels I have right now.



http://www.showcargarage.com/blacktestpanel.html





tn_blacktestpanel.jpg






"Frosty" , from ACT Laboratories is sending me some information on the availability of some smaller sizes which may work better for your Contact Angle measuring instrument.
 
Unfortunately, those pannels are way to big to fit into my machine. as long as it's not more than about 8-10 inches wide it'll fit.
 
I just received an e-mail from ACT Laboratories that lists these smaller test panel sizes available.



1� by 4� by .032 thick



Would these work?
 
Hey Zilla,



I’ve been pretty busy around here lately and I apologize for not getting back to this thread sooner.



I will contact ACT Laboratories and find out if I can have them ship these smaller test panels directly to you and what it will take.



Would 10 test panels be okay?



These are the 1" by 4" size, at .032 thick ($5.70 each plus shipping, which we will pay for)



I think you could divide each one of these in to 2 sections and test up to two waxes on each section, perhaps even divide them into 4 sections, 1" by 1" and test up to 4 waxes on each section?



That might be too hard, but definitely, I think you could test up to twenty waxes.



That should keep you busy. :D
 
sounds good. I've been a lot busier than I expected this week. I'll see about trying something on glass just for the hell of it next week.
 
OK. After being delayed (and me being lazy) I finally got around to making some measurements today.



The sample plates were used "as recieved". I just wiped them down with alcohol to remove any grease before applying the wax.



Products tested:



1. Bare sample

2. Meguiar's Gold Class (almost empty bottle, probably about 2-3 years old).

3. Meguiar's #26 Liquid

4. Meguiar's #20

5. S-100 paste

6. NuFinish liquid (3 years old)

7. Mother's Carnuba Liquid (the small bottle that comes with their claybar kit. Never opened. no idea how old)



The results were kind of surprising.



Here is a typical image of what I'm measuring:



wax_contact_angle.jpg




A small bead of water is dropped on the surface. A camera captures the image and the angle that the droplet makes with the surface is measured (along with other properties like surface tension).



Here are the ranked result. All values are quoted to within ±3 degrees.



1. #26 102 deg

2. NuFinish 97.5 deg

3. S-100 95 deg

4. Mother's 92.5 deg

5. #20 86.5 deg

6. Gold Class 85.5 deg



and for reference, the bare paint sample measured in at 76.5 deg.





What does this mean? the higher the contact angle, the greater the beading ability.



Is this any indication of durability? Probably not.



Does this relate to optical quality in any way? Not likely.



What was the point of doing this? no point. We just got a new piece of equipment in the lab and i've been putting everything that isn't bolted down into it to measure the C.A. :)



Lemme know if you have any questions
 
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