Particle coagulation plays a key role in steel refining process to remove inclusions. Many research works focus on the behaviors of particle coagulation. To reveal its mechanism water model experiments have been performed by some researchers including the authors' group. In this paper, experiments of particle coagulation were carried out with molten Al including SiC particles in a mechanically agitated crucible with two baffles. Particle coagulation and formation of clusters were observed on the microscopy images of as-polished samples. Three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the clusters in solidified Al was implemented by X-ray micro CT available at SPring-8. The methods to distinguish clusters on two-dimensional (2D) cross-sectional images were discussed, which were established in the previous works by the present authors' group. The characteristics of the 3D SiC clusters and their 2D cross-sections were analyzed. The statistical ranges of the parameters for 2D clusters were used as criterions to distinguish the clusters on 2D microscopy images from the as-polished samples. The kinetics of SiC particle coagulation was studied by the measured cluster number density and size using our program to distinguish cluster in 2D crosssectional images according to 3D information (DC-2D-3D). The calculated and experimental results of the SiC particle coagulation in molten Al agree well with each other.
The removal of non-metallic inclusions in the metallurgical process greatly affects the properties of the final products. The structure of inclusion clusters plays a key role in inclusion behaviors of their removal process, such as coagulation, flotation and bubble adhesion. However, it is rare to find reports quantitatively investigating the morphology of inclusion clusters in metal system. On the other hand, to quantitatively estimate the inclusion clusters in metal, it is required to distinguish clusters on twodimensional (2D) cross-sectional images of the as-polished samples. In this study, TiB2 particle clusters were prepared in a mechanically agitated crucible containing molten Al at 1 073 K. The samples of Al-TiB2 were measured by X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to obtain the three-dimensional (3D) information of TiB2 particles and clusters in solid Al. The images of 3D particle clusters in solid Al were extracted and reconstructed by self-developed programs. A series of parameters were defined to describe the 3D characteristics of clusters and their 2D cross-sections. The effects of agitation time and speed on the cluster structure were investigated. A program was developed to distinguish clusters in 2D crosssections through the use of the 3D cluster information (DC-2D-3D) obtained from X-ray micro-CT.KEY WORDS: inclusion coagulation; three-dimensional analysis; morphology of cluster; two-dimensional cluster; X-ray micro-CT.
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