Upscaling environment-friendly cavitation melt treatment (UltraMelt #2)

Our use of metals is so important that it defines periods of human civilisation - from the Bronze Age (c. 3600 BC) to the Iron Age (c. 1100BC). With our present-day mastery of metals and alloys, the mounting emphasis is now on resources and the environment. The metals industry is looking at new ways to produce lighter, stronger materials in a sustainable, economical and pollution-free manner. Ultrasonic cavitation treatment offers a route to meet these goals. Ultrasonic treatment of the second commonest structural metal, aluminium, causes degassing through the evacuation of dissolved gases that lead to porosity, grain refinement to assist formability, dispersion and distribution of solid or immiscible phases to improve mechanical properties during recycling etc. In spite of the benefits, transfer of this promising technology to industry has been plagued by difficulties, especially in treating large volumes of liquid metal typical in processes such as 'Direct Chill' continuous casting for ingot production. Fundamental research is needed to answer the following practical questions: what is the optimum melt flow rate that maximises treatment efficiency whilst minimizing input power, cost, and plant complexity? What is the optimum operating frequency and acoustic power that accelerates the treatment effects? What is the optimum location of an ultrasonic power source in the melt transfer system in relation to the melt pool geometry? Answering these questions will pave the way for widespread industrial use of ultrasonic melt processing with the benefit of improving the properties of lightweight structural alloys, simultaneously alleviating the present use of polluting (Cl, F) for degassing or expensive (Zr, Ti, B, Ar) grain refinement additives.

Capitalising on the unique expertise gained by the proposers during the highly successful UltraMelt project (22 publications), this research aims to answer the challenge of efficiently treating large liquid volumes by developing a comprehensive numerical model that couples all the physics involved: fluid flow, heat transfer, solidification, acoustics and bubble dynamics. Greenwich will lead the development of an improved cavitation model, based on the wave equation and conservation laws, and applied to the two-phase problem of bubble breakup and transport in the melt, and its interaction with solid inclusions (e.g. the solidification front of an aluminium alloy or of any intermetallic impurities present). To improve the efficiency of the ultrasonic cavitation treatment in flowing metal, a launder conduit will be used. The sensitivity of the process with respect to different adjustable parameters (source power, frequency, time in the cavitation zone, baffle location ...) will be examined with parallel computations in a 3D model of melt flow in the launder.

This computer model will be validated by experiments in both transparent liquids and aluminium. Water and transparent organic alloy experiments will use a PIV technique by Oxford Brookes University to measure the size, number and positions of bubbles and compared these with the numerical predictions. Mechanisms of intermetallic fragmentation and particle cluster breakup will be observed in real time using a high speed camera at Brunel University and X-ray radiography at the Diamond Light Source facility. Mechanical properties of intermetallic impurities at temperatures relevant to melt processing will be measured using unique nano-indentation technique in collaboration with Anton Paar Ltd. Cavitation pressure measurements in launder conduits will be conducted at Brunel University and the empirical observations will be compared with model predictions. The fully-developed model will be used to optimise the ultrasonic melt treatment in melt flow during direct-chill casting and verified using pilot-scale facilities at AMCC (Brunel, with support of Constellium) and industrial-scale facilities at Kaiser Aluminum.

The metal industry is one of the largest sectors in the U.K. economy creating 10% of UK manufacturing, employing over 470,000 people and selling about £38 billion of metal products annually. Melt treatment (melting and casting) is the primary stage of aluminium production, the second most important structural metallic material. This project contributes to a fundamental understanding of phenomena underlying a potentially revolutionary melt processing technology and paves the way to its industrial implementation. Society and the UK, in particular, can then benefit from the production of new, advanced structural materials with high tensile strength to weight ratio, produced at a low-carbon footprint. This can potentially have a significant positive impact on automotive, aerospace industries as well as extended to fuel, drag, coatings and food industries.

The development of technology for materials with low-weight-to-strength ratio, such as aluminium-based alloys and composites targeted in this proposal, will improve the UK export potential, facilitate the design and production of automotive and aerospace vehicles and assist job creation in the manufacturing sector. Further enabling the recycling processing of aluminium alloys will reduce energy costs, environmental burden and help the UK meet green targets.

The industrial project supporters (Constellium, Anton Paar Ltd, Kaiser Aluminum) as well as academic centres Brunel BCAST/AMCC, Greenwich CNMPA and Brookes SVEC have an extensive network of industrial contacts and collaborators that will be engaged in propagating the technology developed in this project.

As the research progresses, we will also approach other casting and recycling companies. This will be facilitated by demonstration of a working solution to large volume treatment to industry at the UK Trade Show, EPSRC Manufacturing the Future Conferences and Foundry Fair GIFA 2019 in Germany, events well attended by national and international industries.

Improving the efficiency of and reducing pollution from energy-hungry aluminium processing and reducing the weight of transport vehicles (via the production of strong alloys and composites of low weight) - and hence decreasing fuel consumption and harmful emissions - will help legislators meet the stringent targets for reduction the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

The global network of the project principal investigators will help in disseminating the research outputs. In addition to the already mentioned events, engagement with the Cast Metals Federation (CMF) and the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers (ICME) will bring the technological developments to UK casting industry. We will also organise a special session on ultrasonic melt processing at a TMS annual meeting (around 4500 participants from around the globe) reaching out to the global community of researchers and industrialists outside the UK.

The team will form/strengthen links with key UK research groups working on similar projects, including Prof. P. Lee of Manchester/Diamond Light Source, Prof. P. Grant of Oxford and Prof. J. Mi of Hull with the aim of establishing formal and informal collaboration and submitting joint project proposals.

The PDRAs and PhD student will participate in public engagement such as school visits, public lectures, conferences, fairs, and exhibitions. The entire research team will disseminate research outputs through open-access, peer-reviewed publications in high ranking journals and presentations at international conferences such as Cavitation Symposium (CAV), European Sonochemistry Society (ESS) Meeting, TMS Annual Meeting, Int. Conf. Adv. Solid. Process. (ICASP), Model. Casting, Welding and Adv. Solidif. Process. (MCWASP). Data management plan will be compiled and the data generated through this research will be shared on GALA (Greenwich), BRAD and Figshare (Brunel) and RADAR (Brookes).