Wetting of Low-carbon, Interstitial-free Steel Surfaces with Nanostructured Oxides by Liquid Zinc

• Published in: Metallurgical and materials transactions. B, Process metallurgy and materials processing science Vol. 40; no. 6; pp. 1035 - 1040
• Main Authors: Lee, Joonho, Park, Joongchul, Jeon, Sun-Ho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.12.2009; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Annealing; Applied sciences; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Exact sciences and technology; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Metals. Metallurgy; Nanotechnology; Production of metals; Steel alloys; Structural Materials; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Zinc; Steel Plate; Wetting Behavior; Apparent Contact Angle; Nanostructured Oxide; Contact Angle; Carbon steel; Nanostructure; Free surface; Wetting; Low carbon steel
• ISSN: 1073-5615; 1543-1916
• DOI: 10.1007/s11663-009-9288-1

In this study, the dynamic reactive wetting of low-carbon, interstitial-free (IF) steel by liquid zinc was investigated. In situ contact angle measurements of a liquid zinc droplet on three steel plates that contained a fixed Mn content (0.4 wt pct) and different Si concentrations (0.1, 0.3, and 0.7 wt pct) were carried out with two charge-coupled device cameras that operated at different recording rates, 3000 frames/second and 6 frames/second. The observed contact angles for the three steel plates started at almost the same value but gradually decreased at different rates with increasing time. The steel plate of medium Si content (0.3 wt pct) showed the best wetting behavior among the tested samples. The wetting characteristics were examined by analyzing the surface coverage, the morphology, and the thickness of the nanostructured oxides that formed on the steel plates during the annealing process.