Mechanism of removing inclusions from molten aluminum by stirring active molten flux
(School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University,
Shanghai 200030, China)
Shanghai 200030, China)
Abstract: Removal of inclusions from industrial pure molten aluminum(A01) by stirring active molten flux was studied. Wettability of nonmetallic inclusions in the molten aluminum was worse than that in active molten flux. According to the surface renewal model, the inclusions were easily transferred into molten active flux from fine aluminum droplets and then reacted chemically when molten aluminum was dispersed into fine aluminum droplets in stirring active molten flux. Tensile tests show that tensile strength of purified tensile sample(as-cast) increases by 8.59％. SEM photographs show that the fracture cracks of purified tensile sample are homogeneous, and the dimples are small and homogeneous. From metallographs and statistic results of Leco analysis software, it is found that the quantities and sizes of the inclusions in purified sample are obviously fewer and smaller than in unpurified tensile sample(as-cast)
Key words: flux; inclusion; stirring; molten aluminum; surface renewal kinetic model