In-situ Si/Al composite produced by semisolid metal processing

[Abstract]: Hypereutectic aluminium-silicon alloy can be considered as an in-situ composite with primary silicon acting as the reinforcing phase. In this paper, we use semisolid metal processing technique to produce such in-situ Si/Al composite. Hypereutectic Al-Si alloy, AlSi17Cu5Mg0.55, was cast into a permanent mould with controlled solidification conditions. In the resulted composite, primary Si particles were observed to co-exist with primary Alpha-Al particles, uniformly dispersing in Al-Si eutectic matrix. The structure of the Si particle can be controlled by AlP refinement and thermal refinement, and the Alpha-Al particle can be controlled by semisolid partial remelting

Melting metal waste for volume reduction and decontamination

Melt-slagging was investigated as a technique for volume reduction and decontamination of radioactively contaminated scrap metals. Experiments were conducted using several metals and slags in which the partitioning of the contaminant U or Pu to the slag was measured. Concentrations of U or Pu in the metal product of about 1 ppM were achieved for many metals. A volume reduction of 30:1 was achieved for a typical batch of mixed metal scrap. Additionally, the production of granular products was demonstrated with metal shot and crushed slag