Flux Jet Technique for Purification of Molten Aluminum

Abstract

In this paper a new technology for purification of molten aluminum, namely flux jet technology has been presented. The basic principle of this method is that the molten flux is forced to inject into the molten aluminum and create strong vortex and is uniformly mixed with the molten aluminum under the pressure differential. The flux and the molten aluminum will mix fully to contact each other. In this way, the inclusions in the aluminum will transfer into the flux because of the absorption of the flux to the inclusions. As the result, the molten aluminum will be purified. The experiments were carried out for A357 aluminum foundry alloy with the flux (40% NaCl, 30% KCl, 10% NaF and 20% Na3AlF6). The results show that after 3 cycles, the inclusion contents dramatically decreases from 1.61% to 0.333%, a decline rate of 79.4%; and hydrogen concentration decreased from 0.32ml/100gAl to 0.09ml/100gAl, with hydrogen removal rate being 72%.