Wettability-enabling coating on oxide particles through controlled milling

The purpose of this paper is to describe a metal deposition process which aims at getting a wettability-enhancing tin coating on silica particles. This original mechano-synthesis protocol allows the deposition of thin (nm) metal layer on oxide, while maintaining particles integrity. Macroscopic wettability tests in liquid tin/bismuth alloy confirm the efficiency of this approach for the production of metal matrix/oxide inclusions composites, while microscopic imaging have shown that individual wetting of particles can easily be attained with the appropriate mixing conditions.