Wetting behavior at the free surface of a liquid gallium-bismuth alloy: An X-ray reflectivity study close to the bulk monotectic point

Journal
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects  
Volume
206
Issue
1-3
Start Page
515
End Page
520
Citation
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 206 (1-3): 515-520 (2002-07-09)
Publisher DOI
10.1016/S0927-7757(02)00056-0
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0037046949
Publisher
Elsevier Science
We present X-ray reflectivity measurements from the free surface of a liquid gallium-bismuth alloy (Ga-Bi) in the temperature range close to the bulk monotectic temperature Tmono=222°C. Our measurements indicate a continuous formation of a thick wetting film at the free surface of the binary system driven by the first order transition in the bulk at the monotectic point. We show that the behavior observed is that of a complete wetting at a tetra point of solid-liquid-liquid-vapor coexistence.
Subjects
Bismuth
Gallium
Liquid metals
Surface
Wetting
X-ray reflectivity
DDC Class
530: Physik
More Funding Information
This work was supported by the US DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-88-ER45379, National Science Foundation Grant NSF-DMR-98-72817, and the US–Israel Binational Science Foundation, Jerusalem. Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by US DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886. P. Huber acknowledges support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.