Who we are
GBX Scientific designs and manufactures instruments for surface science from Tallaght, in Dublin, Ireland. The company builds two product lines: the Digidrop contact angle goniometers and the 3S force tensiometers.
Both lines share the same purpose: turning a delicate physical measurement — how a liquid meets a surface, or how two liquids meet each other — into a number a laboratory can trust, record and defend.
Everything is engineered and supported from Dublin: configuration advice before the order, installation and training on delivery, and long-term support for instruments that stay in service for many years.
Two product lines, one purpose
Digidrop goniometers measure the contact angle of a liquid on a solid surface — the starting point for surface energy evaluation, adhesion, printability, cleanliness and coating quality.
3S tensiometers measure surface and interfacial tension by the force methods: the Du Noüy ring, the Wilhelmy plate and dedicated probes, on instruments built for routine laboratory work.
The two technologies answer different questions and are often found in the same laboratory: wetting behaviour on the Digidrop, liquid–liquid and liquid–air tension on the 3S.
Where our instruments are used
The application notes published on this site cover three fields in detail: contact angle measurement in biotechnology, contact angle and food packaging, and interfacial tension of insulating oils. They show how the same measurement discipline adapts to very different industries.
In practice, the instruments appear wherever a surface decides the outcome of a process: cell culture and biomaterials, packaging films and printability, transformer oil programmes, coatings, inks, cleaning validation and research.
How we work with our customers
We treat a measurement as a chain that runs from the sample to the reported number. Advice therefore starts before the order: which method, which accessory, which software module — so that the instrument which arrives is the instrument the work needs.
After delivery, the same chain continues with training, application support and consumables. A measurement that cannot be reproduced is not a result, and most of what we ship is designed to keep results reproducible.
See the instruments
The product pages describe each range in detail: what it measures, how it is built and what comes with it.