METHOD OF PRODUCING Al-Sc MASTER ALLOY, AND Al-Sc MASTER ALLOY OBTAINED BY THE METHOD

摘要

PPROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To produce an Al-Sc master alloy containing scandium whose content not only exceeds conventional one, but also exceeds the theoretical one though a thermal reduction process is adopted, to reduce the heat load of production equipment by enabling operation in a low temperature region, and to enable remarkable contribution to the reduction of the production cost. PSOLUTION: Aluminum, and scandium halide in an amount so as to control the content of scandium in aluminum to about 2% are used as raw materials, and a metallic reducing agent is added to them, and thermal reduction is performed. The thermally reduced fused solution is furnace-cooled to the solidification temperature of aluminum at a cooling rate of 10 to 70C/min, and is thereafter naturally cooled to an ordinary temperature. By such an operation, an Al-Sc compound is precipitated over one part of the aluminum alloy lump at a high density. Operation at 1,000C is made possible, and the heat load of production equipment can remarkably be reduced. PCOPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO