Study on alumina precipitation behavior in Ti-Al-Fe-O melts

High ferrotitanium (ω(Ti)>65%, in mass fraction, same below) prepared by aluminothermy is not applicable for industrial use due to ω(O) and ω(Al) being greater than 5%. The deoxidation limit in melts of Ti-Al-Fe-O system is determined by the relationship between ω(Al) and ω(Ti). In this paper, the samples (ω(Ti)=30%-75%, ω(Al)=5%-20%, ω(O)=5%) were fully melted in a vacuum non-consumable arc furnace in the range of 1 800 ℃ to 2 000 ℃, rapidly cooled in a water-cooled copper mold, and detected by XRD, SEM and EDS. The experimental results show that the phase precipitation order in the melt with 60Ti20Al15Fe5O under fast cooling conditions is the Al₂O₃ phase, Ti-O phase, Ti-Al phase, Ti-Fe-O phase and Ti-Fe phase, and the ω (O) content of the precipitation phase sequentially decreases. Under the same deoxidation limit, the higher the ω (Ti) content in Ti-Al-Fe-O melt, the higher the ω(Al) content required for equilibrium. When the deoxidation limit is 5% and ω(Ti) is greater than 50% in Ti-Al-Fe-O melts, the relationship between ω(Al) and ω(Ti) on the Al₂O₃ precipitation curve follows ω(Al) =0.017 635+0.176 35ω(Ti).