Wettability and Thermodynamic Adhesion of Liquid Metals on Solid Uranium Dioxide

Using the experimental results given in literatures about the contact angle, θ and the work of adhesion, W, for nonreactiveliquid metal / solid UOsystems, the validity and feasibility of the different existing models for calculating W in the metal /ox-ide systems are discussed. It can be shown that the models assuming that only metal atom-oxygen ion interactions existing at theinterfaces are unable to explain the experimental results for W. More reasonable model should take into account both metalatom-oxygen ion and metal atom-oxide metal cation interactions, the proportion of the latter is balanced by the stoichiometry ofthe oxide. By applying the model recently set up by the authors for binary alloy / oxide systems, one can use the experimental andcalculated values of θ and W for various metal / UOsystems to predict the influence of metallic additions on the contact angleand the work of adhesion of a given metal / UOsystem.