Non-wetting to Wetting Transition Temperatures of Liquid Tin on Surfaces of Different Steel Samples Corresponding to their Spontaneous Deoxidation

The goal of this paper is to measure the non-wetting to wetting transition temperatures of liquid tin on surfaces of different steel samples in vacuum with residual pressure of 10-8 bar. The experiments were conducted on four steels (C45, S103, CK60 and EN1.4034) of varying compositions using pure tin (99.99%) by the sessile drop method. Non-wetting to wetting transition (contact angle decreasing below 90°) by liquid tin was observed as function of increasing temperature in the range of 820-940 K for low alloyed steels C45, S103 and CK60, while it was considerably higher (around 1130 K) for high chromium EN1.4034 steel. it is concluded that at about the same temperatures, the surfaces of the steel samples are spontaneously deoxidized due to the combined effect of high temperature, low vacuum and C-content of steels. After the oxide layer is removed, the contact angles of liquid tin on steel surfaces were found in the range of 45-80° for low alloyed C45, S103 and CK60 steels and around 20° for high chromium EN1.4034 steel. These relatively high contact angle values compared to other metal/metal couples (such as liquid Cu on steels) are due to the formation of not fully metallic intermetallic compounds (FeSn and FeSn2) at the interface (such do not form in the Cu/Fe system).