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Segregation Behavior of Impurity Iron in Primary Silicon During Directional Solidification of a Hypereutectic Silicon–Titanium Alloy

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Abstract

Iron (Fe) in metallurgical-grade silicon (MG-Si) is the main metal impurity and is difficult to remove. Strengthening the segregation of impurity Fe at the solid–liquid interface is the key to purifying MG-Si; therefore, a refinement method for the directional solidification of hypereutectic silicon–titanium (Si–Ti) alloy was proposed, and the segregation ability was quantified by calculating the equilibrium segregation coefficient of impurity Fe. By analyzing the microstructure, segregation thermodynamics, and equilibrium segregation coefficient of impurity Fe in a Si-rich layer, it was confirmed that the segregation ability of impurity Fe during Si–Ti alloy refining was stronger than that of MG-Si. The results showed that impurity phases containing Fe precipitates in the Si-rich layer included τ5 and τ1 phases. After introducing Ti into the Si melt, the equilibrium segregation coefficient of Fe impurities was significantly reduced, and the equilibrium segregation coefficient of Si–10 wt pct Ti–0.396 wt pct Fe was k0Fe = 8.68 × 10−7, which was much lower than that of MG-Si (6.4 × 10−6). During the directional solidification and refining of Si–10 wt pct Ti–0.396 wt pct Fe, the removal rate of impurity Fe increased from 90.5 to 96.75 pct of MG-Si to 99.86 pct. This work helps provide understanding of the segregation behavior of impurities at the solid–liquid interface during the directional solidification of Si–Ti alloys and lays a theoretical foundation for the deep removal of impurities.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U1902219 and U1702251), Special Funds of State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization (Grant No. CNMRCUTS1604), Reserve Talents of Young and Middle-Aged Academic and Technical Leaders in Yunnan Province (Grant No. 2018HB009), Yunnan Outstanding Youth Science Foundation (Grant No. 202101AV070007), Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Grant No. 2021YJ0548), and Research Project of Panzhihua University (Grant No. 2020ZD002).

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Lei Zhou, Xiaocong Deng, Tingting Yan & Jingfei Hu

  2. College of Vanadium and Titanium, Panzhihua University, Panzhihua, 617000, China

    Kuisong Zhu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Kuixian Wei

  4. National Engineering Laboratory for Vacuum Metallurgy, Engineering Research Center for Silicon Metallurgy and Silicon Materials of Yunnan Provincial Universities, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, China

    Kuixian Wei

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  1. Lei Zhou
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Zhou, L., Zhu, K., Deng, X. et al. Segregation Behavior of Impurity Iron in Primary Silicon During Directional Solidification of a Hypereutectic Silicon–Titanium Alloy. Metall Mater Trans B 53, 2262–2271 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-022-02527-0

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