title: TEM investigation of reaction zone products formed between molten Al and CoO monocrystalline substrate.
abstract: The research was aimed at microstructure characterization of the reaction products formed between molten aluminium and CoO single crystal during a sessile drop wettability test performed in vacuum at 700 and 1000 degrees C for 120 min using contact heating procedure. The solidified Al/CoO couples were sectioned and used for cutting thin foils with focused ion beam. The transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used for microstructure and local chemical analysis. The interaction of molten aluminium with CoO substrate at 700 degrees C caused the formation of a corrugated 10-40 microm thick reaction zone (RZ). It consisted of aluminium matrix and Al(2)O(3) crystallites varying in size, i.e. of approximately 0.2 microm near the Al drop/RZ interface, growing up to 1-2 microm at the RZ centre and very fine nano-crystallites near the RZ/CoO interface. The reaction of aluminium with CoO at 1000 degrees C produced much thicker RZ of approximately 280 microm characterized by layered microstructure of alternating fine crystalline Al(2)O(3) and coarser Al(13)Co(4) layers. Moreover, at the RZ/CoO interface the presence of a cobalt layer was also identified.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Polish Academy of Science, 30-059 Kraków, Poland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morgiel
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sobczak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pomorska
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Radziwiłł
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kudyba
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wojewoda-Budka