Effect of the size factors on the heterophase interaction of exogenous refractory compound nanoparticles with sulfur in a model nickel melt

Abstract

The dependence of the degree of sulfur removal on the size factors is studied during the heterophase interaction of refractory compound nanoparticles in a nickel melt. These factors are the time of holding of Al2O3 and TiN nanoparticles in a liquid metal (2–10 min), the size and number of Al2O3 and TiN nanoparticles, the time of processing of a nickel powder with nanoparticles in a planetary mill (0−300 min), and the sulfur concentration in a Ni-(0.0775−0.1750 wt %) S melt. It is shown that the degree of sulfur removal increases as the average size of Al2O3 nanoparticles decreases from 150 to 35 nm and that of TiN nanoparticles decreases from 2 × 104 to 30 nm. The effect of the number of Al2O3 nanoparticles in a metal on the degree of sulfur removal is considered. A change in the time of processing of a powder mixture in a planetary mill is found to weakly affect the degree of sulfur removal.