Wettability of non-reactive Cu/Si-Al-O-N systems I. Experimental results

The purpose of this work was to study the evolution of ceramic/liquid metal interactions according to the ionocovalent nature of the anion-cation bond in the ceramic. In order to explore a wide ionicity scale, Si-Al-O-N syste ms were chosen, enabling variation in either the anion or the cation or bot h at the same time. The experimental work of adhesion, W-a, of pure liquid copper on seven compounds (oxides, nitrides and oxynitrides) was measured. Analysis (SEM; EDS and Auger) confirmed the non-reactivity of the systems s tudied. The values of contact angle, theta, and surface tension, sigma (1v) ; have been obtained by the sessile drop method. There is no significant de pendence on the nature of the substrate and satisfactory agreement with the literature data was found. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.