A NEW PROCEDURE FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE FREE-ENERGIES OF SOLID FLUID INTERFACES FROM THE ANISOTROPY OF WETTING OF A MELT ON ITS SOLID

This study investigates the shape of millimetric and micrometric Pb drops and crystals supported by vitreous carbon. It is found that wetting of lead on C is similar for drops varying over three orders of magnitude in size (10 mum-10 mm). Furthermore, the strength of the interfacial bond does not depend on the crystallography of carbon. The wetting behaviour of liquid lead on the different orientations of a millimetric solid monocrystal is also studied. Combining the data on anisotropy of wetting with the data on anisotropy of the solid surface free energy gamma(SV) previously obtained on micrometric lead crystals near the melting point, gamma(SV) and gamma(SL) are determined. These are found to have values of 580 +/- 40 and 160 +/- 50 mJ m-2, respectively.