Modeling of Coalescence and Separation of Liquid Droplets During Solidification of Immiscible Alloys

Directional solidification methods are being used f or in-situ production of metallic immiscible composites. A quantitative understa nding of the dynamic behavior and growth kinetics of the nucleated second phase during solidification is necessary to produce homogeneous dispersion in solidifi ed composites. This paper presents a mathematical model for describing the grow th of nucleated dispersed phase in the two-liquid phase region ahead of the sol idification front and the entrapment of these droplets by the moving solid-liqu id interface in vertical unidirectional solidification systems. The model has t wo components. A macro-heat transfer model for describing the temperature prof iles and the rate of advance of the solidification front. The dynamic behavior and coalescence and growth of nucleated droplets in the two-liquid phase region under the influence of effective gravity and thermocapillary forces were repres ented through the solution the droplet momentum and mass conservation equations in particle space. These two components of the models were coupled through a sp ecial algorithm for tracking the particle location and size with respect to movi ng solidification front in the solidification time scale. The model is used to study the particle size distribution in unidirectional solidified Zn-Bi hypermo notectic alloys at reduced gravity conditions. It has been found that the parti cle size and distribution in the solidified alloy depends on solidification rate and the ratio of effective gravity to thermocapillary forces. It was also foun d that uniform dispersion could only be obtained in a very narrow range of effec tive gravity values near zero gravity. The model predictions were compared agai nst experimental measurements obtained at different effective gravity conditions in a novel unidirectional solidification apparatus that uses electromagnetic fo rces to modulate gravitational forces. The model was found to reasonably predic t the experimentally measured particle size and distribution over the entire ran ge of effective gravity investigated as well as gravity conditions for settling and flotation of the second phase during solidification. The practical signific ance of these findings will be discussed.

Supergravity separation of Pb and Sn from waste printed circuit boards at different temperatures

Printed circuit boards（PCBs） contain many toxic substances as well as valuable metals, e.g., lead（Pb） and tin（Sn）. In this study, a novel technology, named supergravity, was used to separate different mass ratios of Pb and Sn from Pb–Sn alloys in PCBs. In a supergravity field, the liquid metal phase can permeate from solid particles. Hence, temperatures of 200, 280, and 400°C were chosen to separate Pb and Sn from PCBs. The results depicted that gravity coefficient only affected the recovery rates of Pb and Sn, whereas it had little effect on the mass ratios of Pb and Sn in the obtained alloys. With an increase in gravity coefficient, the recovery values of Pb and Sn in each step of the separation process increased. In the single-step separation process, the mass ratios of Pb and Sn in Pb–Sn alloys were 0.55, 0.40, and 0.64 at 200, 280, and 400°C, respectively. In the two-step separation process, the mass ratios were 0.12 and 0.55 at 280 and 400°C, respectively. Further, the mass ratio was observed to be 0.76 at 400°C in the three-step separation process. This process provides an innovative approach to the recycling mechanism of Pb and Sn from PCBs.