A liquid metal dropper for experiments on the wettability of liquid metals on plasma facing components

C López Pérez; T Marchhart; K Kawashimo; M Nieto-Perez; M S Parsons; H Schamis; J P Allain

doi:10.1063/5.0165646

A liquid metal dropper for experiments on the wettability of liquid metals on plasma facing components

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 Oct 1;94(10):103506. doi: 10.1063/5.0165646.

Authors

C López Pérez¹, T Marchhart¹, K Kawashimo¹, M Nieto-Perez¹, M S Parsons¹, H Schamis¹, J P Allain¹

Affiliation

¹ Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.

PMID: 37843418
DOI: 10.1063/5.0165646

Abstract

A liquid metal dropper has been developed as a part of the Ion-Gas-Neutral Interactions with Surfaces 2 (IGNIS-2) facility at The Pennsylvania State University. The dropper has the capability of directly applying drops to candidate plasma facing materials for nuclear fusion reactors to enable measurements of their liquid metal wetting properties. The results presented here are specific to the use of lithium in the dropper. This paper discusses the design choices of the liquid metal dropper and its chamber, including the heating and temperature control and the dropper's motorized operation. Lithium drops of masses ranging from 0.05 g up to 0.13 g, equivalent to drop diameters between 5.6 mm to 1 cm, have been consistently dispensed by the dropper. A new algorithm is developed and used to automate the analysis of the contact angle between the liquid drops and substrate material for efficient analysis of video data recorded to study the wetting properties of candidate plasma-facing components.