An apparatus to measure the wettability parameter using the familiar capillary rise principle for a liquid metal/alloy in contact with a ceramic tube was constructed. The liquid levels outside and inside the capillary tube were measured using acoustic feedback and an electrical continuity technique, respectively. Measurements made by immersing silicon carbide, alumina, and silica tubes in various pure metals and alloys are presented and compared to previously published data in the literature. Reproducible measurements were obtained for nonwetting systems; however, the expected capillary rise was not observed for reaction wetting systems. ©1994 American Institute of Physics.