Methods and apparatuses for determining surface wetting of metallic materials at downhole wellbore condition with fixed or changing well fluids are disclosed. In general, the methods according to the disclosure include carrying out an electrical impedance spectroscopy (“EIS”) for a system simulating downhole conditions for the wetting of a surface by simultaneously dynamically moving electrodes exposed to the well fluid while measuring the changes in electrical characteristics between the electrodes.

Various examples are provided related to measuring surface tension. In one example, a method includes levitating a sample using electrostatic levitation; applying a signal to at least one electrode to excite the sample into a n=3 mode of oscillation; capturing images of the sample with a respective image being associated with a particular frequency that is applied to the sample when the respective image is captured; quantifying sample resonance using a projection method of Legendre polynomials based on the plurality of images; and determining a measured resonance frequency of the sample by an analysis of the sample resonance. The sample can be levitated using a feedback-controlled voltage and the applied signal can be swept over a range of frequencies. A system including electrodes, a position sensor, a camera device, and at least one computing device can be used to carry out the method.

A measuring device includes a furnace, a draining vessel, a loader and a computing system for physical properties. The draining vessel with molten metal fluid is in the furnace. The loader accumulates the molten metal fluid from the draining vessel. The computing system includes a recording unit, transform unit, computing unit and processor. The recording unit records the vessel information. By the assumed physical parameters and the vessel information, the transform unit transforms a weight of the molten metal fluid in the loader into a first length criterion, and the computing unit simulates the flowing of the molten metal fluid to have a second length criterion. The processor minimizes the difference of the first and the second length criterion by changing the assumed physical parameters. The physical properties of the molten metal fluid are determined when the difference is minimized.

A method for screening a large design space of compositions with possible application as binders in cermet and powder metallurgy applications allows rapid elimination of large portions of the design space from contention so that resource intensive procedures, such as computationally intensive modeling techniques and experimental testing, can be focused on potential binder compositions with a high likelihood of being used successfully. The method relies on parameters such as surface tension, contact angle, viscosity, a special capillary metric that is used to characterize capillary behavior, and melting point, which are relatively easy to calculate or determine, to screen out large portions of the design space. Exemplary binder compositions are obtained using the method.

A measuring device includes a furnace, a draining vessel, a loader and a computing system for physical properties. The draining vessel with molten metal fluid is in the furnace. The loader accumulates the molten metal fluid from the draining vessel. The computing system includes a recording unit, transform unit, computing unit and processor. The recording unit records the vessel information. By the assumed physical parameters and the vessel information, the transform unit transforms a weight of the molten metal fluid in the loader into a first length criterion, and the computing unit simulates the flowing of the molten metal fluid to have a second length criterion. The processor minimizes the difference of the first and the second length criterion by changing the assumed physical parameters. The physical properties of the molten metal fluid are determined when the difference is minimized.

A method for screening a large design space of compositions with possible application as binders in cermet and powder metallurgy applications allows rapid elimination of large portions of the design space from contention so that resource intensive procedures, such as computationally intensive modeling techniques and experimental testing, can be focused on potential binder compositions with a high likelihood of being used successfully. The method relies on parameters such as surface tension, contact angle, viscosity, a special capillary metric that is used to characterize capillary behavior, and melting point, which are relatively easy to calculate or determine, to screen out large portions of the design space. Exemplary binder compositions are obtained using the method.

There is provided a wettability tester using a test material in a molten state, including: a chamber; a vacuum exhaust section exhausting the chamber; a gas supply section supplying a predetermined gas into the chamber; a sample stage disposed in the chamber; and an observation section observing morphological change associated with a temperature distribution in the test material tapped onto the sample stage, wherein the vacuum exhaust section and the gas supply section establish a vacuum atmosphere, an inert gas atmosphere, a reducing atmosphere or an air atmosphere in the chamber. It is preferable to include: a melting section disposed above the sample stage and transforming the test material into a molten state; and a tapping control section causing the test material transformed into a molten state by the melting section to be tapped.

Methods and apparatuses for determining surface wetting of metallic materials at downhole wellbore condition with fixed or changing well fluids are disclosed. In general, the methods according to the disclosure include carrying out an electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for a system simulating downhole conditions for the wetting of a surface by simultaneously dynamically moving electrodes exposed to the well fluid while measuring the changes in electrical characteristics between the electrodes.

Various examples are provided related to measuring surface tension. In one example, a method includes levitating a sample using electrostatic levitation; applying a signal to at least one electrode to excite the sample into a n=3 mode of oscillation; capturing images of the sample with a respective image being associated with a particular frequency that is applied to the sample when the respective image is captured; quantifying sample resonance using a projection method of Legendre polynomials based on the plurality of images; and determining a measured resonance frequency of the sample by an analysis of the sample resonance. The sample can be levitated using a feedback-controlled voltage and the applied signal can be swept over a range of frequencies. A system including electrodes, a position sensor, a camera device, and at least one computing device can be used to carry out the method.

Methods and apparatuses for determining surface wetting of metallic materials at downhole wellbore condition with fixed or changing well fluids are disclosed. In general, the methods according to the disclosure include carrying out an electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for a system simulating downhole conditions for the wetting of a surface by simultaneously dynamically moving electrodes exposed to the well fluid while measuring the changes in electrical characteristics between the electrodes.