Non-metallic particles, especially alumina, are the main inclusions in aluminum and its alloys. Numerical simulation and the corresponding experiments were carried out to study the motion behavior of alumina particles in commercial pure aluminum under high frequency magnetic field. At the meantime, multi-pipe experiment was also done to discuss the prospect of continuous elimination of non-metallic particles under high frequency magnetic field. It is shown that: 1) results of numerical simulation are in good agreement with the experimental results, which certificates the rationality of the simulation model; 2) when the intensity of high frequency magnetic field is 0.06 T, the 30 μm alumina particles in melt inner could migrate to the edge and be removed within 2 s; 3) multi-pipe elimination of alumina particles under high frequency magnetic field is also effective and has a good prospect in industrial application.
The effect of high magnetic fields on the morphology of Al-Mn phases was investigated. It is found that the tropism and the alignment of Al6Mn precipitated phases become regular under high magnetic fields. The stronger the high magnetic fields, the more regular the alignment of Al6Mn precipitated phases. Al6Mn precipitated phases can generate oriented alignment and aggregation under high magnetic fields through the observation of the quenched microstructure of the Al-Mn alloy at different temperatures. Meanwhile, the number of Al6Mn phases increases continuously along with the increasing function time of high magnetic fields. X-ray diffraction also indicates that Al6Mn phases generate obvious tropism under high magnetic fields. The process of aggregation and growth of Al6Mn precipitated phases under the function of high magnetic fields after orientation were analyzed and discussed.
The effects of the particle size of ground metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si), the sort of acids, and the type of stirring on the purified efficiency of MG-Si were investigated. It was found that a particle size less than 0.1 mm was most effective for acid leaching; the extraction yield of impurities was increased by 9% with HF leaching compared with HCl leaching and HNO3 leaching, and increased by 7% with ultrasonic stirring compared with mechanical stirring. The principle of hydrometallurgical purification of metallurgical grade silicon under ultrasonic fields was also discussed.