Surface Properties of Liquid Sodium and Sodium-Potassium Alloys in Contact with Metal Oxide Surfaces

Abstract

Dissolved oxygen was shown to be surface active in liquid sodium from measurements of surface tension and of contact angle of the liquid on various oxide surfaces. When sufficient oxygen was present wetting of UO₂ by liquid sodium could be brought about at temperatures above approximately 300 °C. Observations on the wetting of several solid oxides by sodium gave some support to the hypothesis that wetting was more effective on those oxides with larger cations. Sodium-potassium alloys showed non-wetting contact angles when relatively free of oxygen but wetting occurred when the oxygen content of the liquid was increased.