Wettability of Stainless Steel 12Cr18Ni9Ti with a Liquid Near-Eutectic Tin–Lithium Alloy

In this study, the temperature dependences of the contact wetting angles θ(T) were measured using the large sessile drop method on high-purity samples with an automated experimental setup. The surface of stainless steel 12Cr18Ni9Ti with a lithium alloy was based on tin with the composition Sn + 15 at % of Li. The presence of a threshold wetting temperature of about 1050 K was established, at which the wetting angles begin to decrease sharply, reaching almost zero. Based on an analysis of the obtained results, it is suggested that the threshold wetting temperatures on the θ(T) dependences are mainly caused by the onset of significant interaction and dissolution of alloying elements in 12Cr18Ni9Ti steel with the alloy components: liquid tin and lithium.