Liquid lithium wettability studies on novel zirconium-alloyed porous tungsten

Liquid lithium wettability has been investigated on novel zirconium-alloyed porous tungsten fabricated by the place-holder spark plasma sintering technique. This paper investigates the wetting properties of liquid lithium on the substrates by in vacuo contact angle measurements of lithium droplets at Penn State’s IGNIS-2 facility. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy analysis was performed on the samples to investigate the role of the surface chemistry in the contact angle behavior of lithium on the substrates. It was seen that hydrated and hydroxylated states of the surface play a key role in affecting the lithium affinity of the surface.