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

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.