Internal ‘cup-brick’ testing for corrosion resistance and nonwettability

Internal “cup-brick” testing consists of filling a 3 inch x 2 inch x 2 inch ceramic crucible with 15 cm³ of a chosen molten metal alloy. After filling, the samples are fired to a soak temperature above the melting temperature of the metal being tested. The “cup-brick” is held at the respective soak temperature for 20 hours and then allowed to cool to room temperature, after which it is sectioned in half and qualitatively observed for corrosion.

Corrosion is determined based on the interaction between the metallic and the ceramic, seen as the darkened portions along the ceramic–metallic interfaces in Figures 1 and 2. Meanwhile, the ceramic’s nonwetting attributes are demonstrated as the depth of the darkened portions, where a thin line demonstrates good nonwetting attributes and a deep penetration into the bulk ceramic demonstrates metallic wetting.

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