Experimental and theoretical study on melting kinetics of spherical aluminum particles in liquid aluminum

Abstract

In this study a process analysis of the melting process of solid particles in a bath of its own composition is performed using both experimental information and theoretical computations. An experimental setup was used to measure thermal histories and the evolution of the size of metallic solid spherical particles with time, being melted in a metallic bath of its own composition. For such a purpose pure aluminum was used during the experiments for both solid particles and liquid bath. Also, a mathematical model was developed based on first principles of heat transfer to simulate melting kinetics of a cold metallic spherical particle immersed in a hot liquid bath of its own composition. The mathematical model was reasonable validated when compared against the experimental results obtained in this work. A process analysis of the melting process was performed to determine the effect of the initial temperature and size of the solid particle, the bath temperature and the convective heat transfer coefficient on the melting time and on the energy consumption. From the analysis it was found that the variable presenting the most significant effect on both the melting time and the energy consumption is the convective heat transfer coefficient between the particle and the bath since an increment in such a parameter accelerates the melting process and saves energy. Therefore, proper stirring of the bath is highly recommended to enhance the melting of metallic alloying addition to metallic baths.