Wetting and infiltration of volatile fluorides by In-Ti melt

In this study, the effect of the volatile nature of thermodynamically stable fluorides (MgF2, CaF2, and BaF2) on wetting and infiltration phenomenon is discussed. Specially designed sets of experiments under different conditions of fluoride vapor evacuation were conducted. Experiments with In-Ti (~1 at.%) drops covered by a small cap and with artificially closed and open capillaries suggested that under restricted conditions of vapor evacuation, a thin solid layer is formed on the surface of the liquid metal, mechanically preventing both the spreading of In-Ti melt at the surface of the dense substrates and liquid penetration into the porous preforms.