Extraction of Pure Si from an Al-Si Alloy Melt during Solidification by Centrifugal Force

The present study describes a new technique to extract the primary silicon from an Al-Si alloy melt using centrifugal force during its solidification. The primary silicon was separated from an Al-50 wt.%Si alloy by centrifugal force in the form of a foam, which facilitated subsequent acid leaching to extract the pure silicon due to its wide surface area. The foam recovery after centrifugal separation was decreased as centrifugal acceleration was increased. The final recovery after acid leaching became closer to the solid fraction of the alloy, which was calculated from the Al-Si binary phase diagram,with increasing centrifugal acceleration due to the effective removal of the attached Al on the foam. The purity of the primary silicon obtained by the centrifugal separation method was over 99.99%, with only aluminum being also present.