Wettability of stainless steel $12\rm Cr18\rm Ni9\rm Ti$ with a liquid near-eutectic tin–lithium alloy

In this study, the temperature dependences of the contact wetting angles $\theta(T)$ were measured using the large sessile drop method on high-purity samples with an automated experimental setup. The surface of stainless steel $12\rm Cr18\rm Ni9\rm Ti$ with a lithium alloy was based on tin with the composition $\rm Sn + 15$ at $\%$ of $\rm Li$. 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 $\theta(T)$ dependences are mainly caused by the onset of significant interaction and dissolution of alloying elements in $12\rm Cr18\rm Ni9\rm Ti$ steel with the alloy components: liquid tin and lithium.