Experimental and Theoretical Study on Melting Kinetics of Spherical Aluminum Particles in Liquid Aluminum

ABSTRACTIn this study a process analysis of the melting process of solid particles in a bath of same composition is performed using both experimental information and theoretical computations. An experimental setup was used to measure the thermal histories and to follow the evolution with time of the size of solid metallic spherical particles being melted in a metallic bath of same composition. For such a purpose, pure aluminum was used during the experiments for both solid particles and liquid bath. A mathematical model was also developed based on first principles of heat transfer to simulate the melting kinetics of a cold metallic spherical particle immersed in a hot liquid bath of same composition. The mathematical model was reasonably 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.The analysis showed 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 additions in the metallic baths.