An investigation of the effect of SiC reinforcement coating on the wettability of Al/SiC system

In this study, the wetting behavior of oxide and metallic coated SiC substrate with Al-Si-Mg alloy has been investigated. SiC substrate and particles were coated with SiO(2), TiO(2), and metallic Ni by using thermo-chemical treatment, sol-gel and electroless coating techniques, respectively. Also, the effect of doping elements (Ni, Cu and Fe in TiO2 coating) on the wettability has been investigated. Coatings were characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD, and by means of surface roughness. Contact angle results demonstrate that metallic Ni coating significantly improves the wettability. However, doping elements did not alter the results due to their detrimental effect on surface roughness.