Measurements and analysis of adhesive forces for micron particles on common indoor surfaces

Abstract

Dust particle resuspension from indoor surfaces is an important source of particulate matter in indoor environments. The adhesive force represents the resistance of the particle to resuspension in an air stream and is a key factor in the resuspension process. The present study used an atomic force microscope (AFM) to measure the adhesive forces between three particle samples and four common indoor surfaces including acrylic, marble, epoxy flooring and wood flooring. The effects of different indoor surfaces were investigated using 12 particle–surface combinations. The results show that the average adhesive forces range from 8.2 nN to 448.1 nN for different combinations with the surface roughness being the main factor. The average adhesive force increases with the contact radius and is larger on the wood flooring surface than on the other three surfaces. Then, the resuspension process was simulated using the moment balance method with the measured adhesive forces as the model inputs. The model predictions show that the wood flooring surface has the largest resistance to the air flow entrainment, followed by the epoxy flooring surface, then the marble surface and the least is the acrylic surface.