WETTABILITY OF LIQUID ALUMINUM ON CARBON/GRAPHITE/TiB_2 COMPOSITE CATHODE MATERIALS

摘要

Wettability of liquid aluminum on the cathode is of great importance for metal stability and cathode performance in aluminum reduction cells. Cathode material for today's reduction cells is carbon with poor wettability by Al, while emerging cathode materials are the carbon/graphite/TiB_2 composites with better Al-wettability and cell sustainability. In this paper, a modified sessile drop method was applied to determine the contact angles for various testing materials, in which a newly formed fresh metal drop came into contact in situ with the cathode materials when the temperature was reached. The contact angle during wetting process was recorded against testing time, where two stable stages existed in association with Al_2O_3 formation and Al_4C_3 formation, respectively. TiB_2 is found to improve the Al-wettability with an appropriate amount of addition. The obtained results can be used for improving cathode materials and cell performance.