Abstract

Refractory inclusions caused by the degradation of materials used in the handling, filtration, flow control, and processing of molten metals, especially aluminum, are a persistent challenge that conventional analytical techniques struggle to trace. Refractory inclusions are a non-metallic particle or fragment that originates from the degradation or erosion of refractory materials used to line and contain molten metals, which subsequently becomes entrained in metal products and can lead to defects or compromised material properties. Refractory applications may be used in a range of processing and fluid-handling systems, including using grid plates in the bottom of deep bed filters that act as supports for the media and elevate them off the bottom of the bed, as well as pins and spouts, which may be used to control the amount of molten metal flow by embedding unique combinations of micron and sub-micron taggants, such as select refractory oxides and rare earth elements, into refractory materials during manufacture or subsequent treatment, the source of inclusions can be reliably identified. These taggants are selected for their fluorescence or electron backscatter characteristics for clear origin determination through SEM analysis or suitable equivalents. Using these processes facilitates root cause identification and corrective actions to improve the quality and the consistency of metal products with a scalable, non-intrusive tagging system. Its application to metal processing promises significant reductions inclusion-related defects and provides improved traceability.

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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