Wettability of Solid Oxides by Liquid Iron Alloys under Reduced Pressure

Wettability of solid oxides by liquid iron alloys has been studied under reduced pressure. Measurements of surface tension and contact angle of liquid iron alloys on solid oxides (MgO, Al2O3) have been carried out with the sessile drop method. 1) Different values of surface tension and contact angle were obtained by different furnaces whose heating elements were molybdenum and graphite, respectively. This can be explained by a difference in partial pressure of oxygen in the furnaces. 2) The values of surface tension obtained by the furnace whose heating element was graphite was considerably higher than previous works. It should be caused by an extremely low oxygen pressure in this work compared with those in previous works. 3) The difference in the wetting of Al2O3 and MgO with liquid iron alloys can be attributed to the difference in solubilities of Al and Mg in liquid iron.