The wetting of Pb droplet on the solid Al surface can be promoted by ultrasonic vibration – Molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

The influence of ultrasonic vibration on the wetting of Pb droplet on Al (1 0 0) surface was analyzed by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Periodic displacement was applied to the Al solid to simulate the vibration of ultrasonic. The Pb droplet could wet Al surface without ultrasonic vibration, and the equilibrium contact angle was about 38° with very low degree of diffusion and dissolution. When the ultrasonic vibration was applied, the contact angle ranged from 20° to 110° periodically. The fine-scale density profiles show that the diffusion and dissolution at the interface were enhanced. The interfacial energy was lowered, and the contact angle was lowered to about 30° after stopping the ultrasonic vibration.