A method for the calculation of interfacial energies in Al₂O₃ and ZrO₂/liquid-metal and liquid-alloy systems

Abstract

A method is proposed by which the interfacial energy, γ_SL, of polycrystalline solid oxides (Al₂O₃, ZrO₂) in contact with liquid metals and certain binary liquid alloys can be calculated from the values of the surface energy of the oxides, γ_SV, and the liquid metals or liquid alloys, γ_LV, respectively. According to this method, the interfacial energy depends on the geometric mean of surface interactions, (γ_SV γ_LV)^1/2, the molar volumes, V, of the solid and liquid phases, and a parameter, K, which depends on the geometric details of the oxide surface defined by the ion sites in the oxide as well as the stoichiometry of the elements in the oxide and is given by the equation,

$$\gamma _{SL} = \left( {K\frac{{V_{metal} }}{{V_{oxide} }} + 1} \right)^{2/3} (\gamma _{SV} \gamma _{LV} )^{1/2}$$

The method was verified using interfacial energy data obtained by measurements of the contact angle, θ, formed between the oxides and the liquid metals and liquid alloys with the sessile drop technique. A good agreement was observed between the calculated and the experimentally estimated values of γ_SL at the melting point of the metals and alloys.