Liquid metal will wet to most metallic surfaces. Specifically though, room-temperature liquid metal can be very reactive with certain metals. Liquid metal can dissolve most metals; however, at moderate temperatures, only some are slightly soluble, such as sodium, potassium, gold, magnesium, lead, nickel and mercury. Gallium is corrosive to all metals except tungsten and tantalum, which have a high resistance to corrosion, more so than niobium, titanium and molybdenum. Similar to indium, gallium and gallium-containing alloys have the ability to wet to many non-metallic surfaces such as glass and quartz. Gently rubbing the alloy into the surface may help induce wetting. However,
Liquid metal embrittlement the strain to fracture when tested in the presence of liquid metals as compared to that obtained in tests. The reduction in fracture strain is generally temperature dependent and a “ductility trough” is observed as the test temperature is decreased. A ductile-to-brittle transition behaviour is also exhibited by many metal couples. The shape of the elastic region of the stress-strain curve is not altered, but the plastic region may be changed during LME. Very high crack propagation rates, varying from a few centimeters per second to several meters per second are induced in solid metals by the embrittling liquid metals.