A Comparative Analysis of Technologies for Producing Al–3Ti–1B Modifying Master Alloy.

Al–3Ti–1B and Al–5Ti–1B master alloys represent the most popular modifiers for the majority of aluminum alloy groups. To date, several methods, requiring various conditions and resource costs, have been applied for producing these master alloys. The paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of methods for producing Al–3Ti–1B master alloy using both a Ti sponge and salts (K2TiF6 and KBF4) as the starting components. The degree of Ti and B recovery for three methods of the master alloy production was experimentally established. The phase and element compositions of slags were studied; the amount of fluorine gas, emitted during the master alloy production, was calculated. A method, using a titanium sponge and molten KBF4 + KCl mixture, was identified to ensure a recovery of Ti and B equal to 88.10 and 72.20%, respectively. The modifying ability of the produced master alloys was studied both according to the TP-1 method and using the laboratory and industrial unit of semi-continuous casting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]