Extensive wetting due to roughness

Abstract

Typically, a small mass of eutectic SnPb solder wets a copper surface and flows radially outward to form a hemispherical shape with a contact angle of approx. 15–20 deg. When a similar mass of solder wets a thick electroless copper coated substrate, rapid radial flow commences and surprising new effects occur. Thick coats of electroless copper have a nodular surface structure and spreading on it does not subside until all solder is consumed. When the nodular structure is wetted by solder a “coastline” with many nearby “islands” are defined. Photos of regions at the wetting front were taken in the backscatter imaging mode of an SEM. These images show that solder wets the valleys between the surface nodules forming a delicate, lacy arrangement. The geometry of this “coastal” solder structure is described as fractal-like having a dimension D = 1.38 making it similar to drying fronts and cloud configurations. The importance of surface roughness in wetting phenomena is discussed in the light of an extensive history on the subject. It is shown that for spontaneous flow, assisted by roughness, the surface geometry must consist of local angles that are larger than the equilibrium contact angle. Kinetics of the wetting process are demonstrated by image analysis of wetted area taken from videotaped experiments. These experimental kinetics are shown to be similar in form to flow in open channel capillaries.