Ag. Feng et al., WETTABILITY OF TRANSITION-METAL OXIDE SURFACES, Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials: properties, microstructure and processing, 242(1-2), 1998, pp. 50-56
The wettability of transition metal oxide surfaces (TiO2, ZrO2 and HfO
2) by water was investigated by measuring the contact angles using the
sessile drop method. The oxide surfaces were prepared by thermal oxid
ation of polished metal foils of Ti, Zr and I-If which had been polish
ed to different levels of surface roughness. The surfaces were also ch
aracterized by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic for
ce microscopy (AFM) and Auger/XPS (AES/ESCA) methods. From the depende
nce of contact angles on surface roughness for the three investigated
oxides, contact angles on Bat surfaces win calculated as 70.7 degrees,
59.9 degrees and 74.0 degrees for TiO2, ZrO2 and HfO2, respectively.
These results suggest thar the three oxides do nor provide acceptable
waterproofing coatings on silica fibers used for space shuttle thermal
insulation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.