Abstract
Aluminium, in its normal passivated state, does not react with mercury, i.e., it is not attacked and does not wet or readily dissolve. When the passivating surface layer is removed from high-purity aluminium, the metal can be easily wetted by mercury and upon exposure to air a spontaneous and rapid growth of a fibrous or ribbon-like product emanates from the wetted surfaces. In this work it was observed that the reaction product had little mechanical strength and readily disintegrated into a molecular-scale powder. It was identified as γ-Al2O3 which even after heating for 48 h at 750° C was still of the order of 60 to 70 Å in average particle size. By consideration of the Al-Hg phase diagram, thermodynamic data, and further experimental observations, a mechanism for the phenomenon has been proposed. The probably unique situation which exists at room-temperature in the Al-Hg system enables a spontaneous reaction to take place between the aluminium dissolved in the wetting mercury film and the water vapour and oxygen present in the atmosphere. The influences of several variables on the reaction product morphology and relative reaction rate were investigated. Also, other mercury-metal systems were investigated for possible similar reactions.
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Pinnel, M.R., Bennett, J.E. Voluminous oxidation of aluminium by continuous dissolution in a wetting mercury film. J Mater Sci 7, 1016–1026 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00550065
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00550065