Surface Tension Measurements on CMSX-4 Superalloy by the Drop-Weight and Oscillating-Drop Methods

The surface tension of the CMSX-4^®reg; superalloy has been determined by the drop-weight and oscillating-drop methods which are well adapted to reactive materials. The recommended values are 1.59 J·m^–2 for the surface tension at the liquidus temperature and –0.14× 10^–3 J·m^–2· K^–1 for the temperature coefficient. A conclusion of the present work is that the interpretation of surface tension measurements performed on a complex alloy generally requires additional work to be performed on simpler associated binary or ternary systems, as well as some support from solidification experiments.