Wettability of aluminium nitride by tin-aluminium melts

The wettability of aluminium nitride by Sn-Al melts was studied by the sessile drop method in a vaccum of 2x10 exp -3 Pa at 1100 deg C over the whole concentration region. The minimum interval on the contact-angle concentration dependence curve was observed at intermediate composition. For comparison, experiments were also performed on porous AlN. Wetting of porous nitride is worse than the dense nitride. The results have been analysed on the basis of the relation between wenability and the chemical interface reactivity in solid-liquid metal systems. (Authors note that wettability is an important property in relation to metal coating, brazing of ceramics, fabrication of composites, and corrosion processes.)