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where is the change in interfacial energy per unit area between material 1 and 2, is the interfacial tension between materials 1 and 2, and is the surface tension of material .
If , the system is thermodynamically stable, but if , the process of adhesion is energetically unfavorable.
The above discussion can be generalized for any intervening medium (3), and the following relation can be written
![](images/8.gif)
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(2.2) |
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