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Effect of Silicon Separation on the Preparation of High-Purity Aluminum

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Abstract

To evaluate the effect of the distribution coefficient (kSi) on silicon (Si) separation during aluminum (Al) refining by zone melting, kSi is measured under different experimental conditions, and the obtained samples are examined. The experimental results show that Si content in the sample located in the middle region is less than 2.33 ppm (Its location number is No. 3) when the zone melting speed is less than 1 mm/min. As the times of purification increasing, kSi gradually approaches k0, and the migration effect of Si is significantly improved. The influence of the times of purification on the distribution coefficient is obviously greater than that of the zone melting speed. When the zone melting speed is 1 mm/min, and there are 10 and 15 times, the highest removal rate of Si occurs in the middle of the sample. The Si removal rates in the samples at No. 3 are 74% and 74.6%, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Science Foundation of China (No. 51734006), Science and Technological Talent Cultivation Plan of Yunnan Province, China (No.2017HB009), Supported by Program for Innovative Research Team in University of Yunnan Province (No.201808), the Program for the academician free exploration fund of Yunnan Province (No. 2017HA006), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Yunnan Province (No. 2019FD037).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Laboratory for Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, People’s Republic of China

    Heli Wan, Baoqiang Xu, Bin Yang, Mengping Duan, Jia Yang, Yongnian Dai, Lingxin Kong & Yifu Li

  2. Research Center of Engineering on Aluminum Industry of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650093, People’s Republic of China

    Heli Wan, Baoqiang Xu & Bin Yang

  3. Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Nonferrous Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, People’s Republic of China

    Heli Wan, Baoqiang Xu, Mengping Duan, Jia Yang, Yongnian Dai, Lingxin Kong & Yifu Li

  4. Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, People’s Republic of China

    Heli Wan, Baoqiang Xu, Bin Yang, Mengping Duan, Jia Yang, Yongnian Dai, Lingxin Kong & Yifu Li

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  1. Heli Wan
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Correspondence to Yifu Li.

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Wan, H., Xu, B., Yang, B. et al. Effect of Silicon Separation on the Preparation of High-Purity Aluminum. Silicon 13, 399–407 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00443-z

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