Quantification of Modifiers Fading during Melt Holding in the Aluminum Casting Furnace
- Resource Type
- article
- Authors
- Mile Djurdjevic; Srecko Manasijevic; Slavko Smiljanic; Marko Ristic
- Source
- Crystals, Vol 13, Iss 2, p 191 (2023)
- Subject
- modifier
fading
AlSiCuMg alloys
loss rate constant
surface reaction rate constant
Crystallography
QD901-999
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2073-4352
Strontium (Sr) and sodium (Na) are the most used modifiers in the aluminum casting industry. Both lose their concentration (fade) during holding in the melting furnace. Three types of chemical reactions in the melt may cause modifier fading: vaporizing, oxidizing, or reacting with some other elements from the melt. Due to Na and Sr’s very low vapor pressure, their vaporization from the aluminum melt was excluded as a reason for the modifiers’ fading. Oxidation looks like the major chemical reaction that causes the fading of Na and Sr from an aluminum melt. The present paper aimed to quantify the fading of Na and Sr in an Al–Si–Cu–Mg alloy. The loss of modifiers (Na and Sr) during melt holding in a furnace can be analytically quantified using equations taken from the literature. The calculated surface reaction rate constant (ks) can estimate the modifier’s loss during melt holding in industrial and laboratory furnaces.