Wood's Metal Dynamic Wettability on Quartz, Granite, and Limestone

Abstract

— Wood's metal wettability was experimentally studied as a function of both liquid and solid parameters. The influence of solid-liquid relative velocity, Wood's metal temperature, and surface roughness on the unit work of wetting γ cos θ was analysed through tests on various specimens made of quartz (synthetic single crystal), La Peyratte granite (fine-grained and coarse-grained), and Soultz micrite (sub-micronic limestone). A few tests with mercury were performed for comparison. A slight temperature dependency is found on both quartz and rocks, the largest effect being observed on quartz. The most significant dependency observed on quartz, La Peyratte granite and Soultz micrite is controlled by roughness. Rough specimens always show larger values of unit work of wetting γ cos θ when compared to polished ones. A range of γ cos θ-values is determined for each mineral and rocks, which implies the determination of break-through radii using Laplace's equation within ranges of 7–10%.