Enhancement of wettability in AZ91/B_(4)C system by a mechanical purification of liquid alloy

Mg-based alloys are potential candidate materials for a fabrication of lightweight boron carbide based composites through a reactive melt infiltration approach. In this paper, the effect of a mechanical purification of molten AZ91 alloy’s surface on its wettability with polycrystalline B_(4)C is experimentally evaluated for the first time. For this purpose, sessile drop experiments were performed under the same operating conditions(700℃/5 min;Ar atmosphere), by using both the classical contact heating(CH) and the improved capillary purification(CP) procedure. It was found that the evolution of contact angle values was strongly influenced by the applied procedure. In particular, by using the classical CH procedure, the presence of a native oxide layer on the metal surface hinders the observations of melting process, resulting in a misleading conclusion that the system is non-wettable. Contrarily, during the wetting test performed by applying the CP procedure, the surface oxide layer was mechanically removed by squeezing the molten AZ91 alloy through a capillary. Accordingly, the oxide-free AZ91 drop with a regular and spherical shape was successfully obtained and dispensed on the B_(4)C substrate. A reliable contact angle value of θ =83° was measured at the AZ91/B_(4)C triple line at 700 ℃, which in turn proves that B_(4)C is wetted by the liquid AZ91 alloy. In contradiction to the literature, these good wetting conditions were assisted by a non-reactive wetting mechanism occurring at the AZ91/B_(4)C interface. To succeed in the fabrication of AZ91/B_(4)C composites by liquid metal infiltration, such experimental observations make it reasonable to expect a spontaneous infiltration process exclusively driven by capillarity, which in turn increases the efficiency of the process by the absence of reaction products that could be a potentially detrimental factor.

Improved methodological concepts for processing liquid Mg at high temperature

In this paper,new improvements of methodological concepts upon examining wettability of high vapor pressure liquid metal systems(e.g.Mg-based alloys)in contact with refractory materials,are presented and discussed.In this regard,high-temperature experiments on molten magnesium(Mg)in contact with graphite as a refractory substrate,were performed by utilizing a newly developed testing device and by applying a suitable experimental procedure.The wetting experiments were carried out by the sessile drop method and under identical testing conditions(700℃/10 min under a protective gas atmosphere).Two different procedures were applied:the classical contact heating(CH)or a newly introduced capillary purification(CP)one.The contact angle behaviors observed under the same conditions were strongly influenced by the applied procedure.Specifically,in the case of using the CH procedure,a presence of native surface oxide layer on the metal surface hinders the observations of melting process,making not possible to experimentally determine the wetting kinetics curveθ=f(t).Contrarily,during the wetting test performed on the Mg/graphite couple by applying the CP procedure,the native surface oxide layer was mechanically removed during the squeezing of the molten Mg through the hole of a capillary.Indeed,an oxide-free squeezed Mg-drop with regular and spherical shape was successfully obtained and dispensed on the graphite substrate.Consequently,the reliable contact angle value aroundθ=150°for the Mg/graphite system,was measured within the wetting test.