Abstract
Cu-8mass%P (Cu-8%P) is generally used to refine the primary crystal silicon of Al-17mass%Si alloy. As this process takes considerable time, the molten metal is superheated compared to the melting point and surplus Cu-8%P tends to be added after a long refining time taken. The cause of this long refining time is due to the slow diffusion speed of the non-equilibrium slurry generated between the molten metal and Cu-8%P. It was found that the slurry diffuses easily into the molten metal and it is possible to shorten the refining time by up to seven minutes by adding other elements to the Cu-8%P alloy or by optimizing the particle size of the Cu-8%P alloy. In the actual process, it is also possible to refine the primary crystal silicon at low temperatures about 1023K. We obtained the good result that the actual Cu-8%P consumed is the same as the theoretical one.
