Wetting and Interaction of Titanium Melt with Calcium Titanate

This study presents the results of a study of the reaction interaction and contact angle during contact between a titanium melt and a calcium metatitanate substrate. It is shown that at temperatures slightly above the melting point, the titanium melt poorly wets the CaTiO₃ substrate surface. The contact angle and the onset temperature of active reaction vary depending on the fractional composition of the CaTiO₃ powders from which the substrates are made and their porosity. Under isothermal holding conditions below the onset temperature of active reaction, the contact angle changes insignificantly. At the onset temperature of the reaction interaction, after a short stabilization period of the contact angle, the reaction leads to rapid penetration of the molten droplet into the depth of the CaTiO₃ substrate and, in some cases, to the expulsion of a Ca-Ti-O liquid phase from the reaction zone. The interaction of titanium melt with calcium titanate is accompanied by a series of physicochemical reactions associated with the reaction interaction, which intensifies with increasing temperature and causes the restoration of calcium to a metallic state and the dissolution of oxygen in the titanium melt, as well as the formation of a liquid Ca-Ti-O layer in the transition zone.