Study on the wetting characteristics of liquid-Al/ SiO2 interface with Si content in liquid-Al

• Published in: Materials today communications 2024-12, Vol.41, p.110722, Article 110722
• Main Authors: Cheng, Wandong, Rui, Zhiyuan, Sun, Haobo, Lyu, Xin, He, Dongyun, Mei, Chao, Dong, Yun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adhesion; Molecular dynamics; Phantom wall method; Wetting
• ISSN: 2352-4928; 2352-4928
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2024.110722

Aiming to address the issue of aluminum slag adhering to the interior walls of vacuum lifting ladles in the aluminum electrolysis industry, Molecular dynamics simulations are employed to investigate the wetting behavior and adhesion characteristics of aluminum droplets on silica surfaces. Our findings indicate that with an increase in silicon content within the droplets, wetting diminishes and complete wetting of the silica substrate by aluminum droplets is not achieved. The presence of silicon reduces both the melting point temperature and surface tension of aluminum droplets, leading to a significant increase in contact angle and a corresponding decrease in wettability. Moreover, an elevated silicon content within molten aluminum droplets substantially decreases their interaction energy with the substrate surface. The virtual wall method is applied to examine average separation force and work of separation for detaching aluminum droplets from the substrate, revealing that adhesion characteristics are predominantly governed by mutual adhesive forces. This paper presents an atomic-level analysis elucidating how silicon as an alloying element influences adhesion between liquid aluminum and solid surfaces. [Display omitted]