Skip to main content
Log in

Segregation Behavior of Metal Impurities During Al-Si Melt Directional Solidification with an Open Ended Crucible

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Silicon Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The distribution characteristic and segregation behavior of metal impurities during directional solidification of Al-20Si, Al-30Si and Al-40Si alloys have been investigated. The morphologies of the alloys and impurity phases were observed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The concentration profiles of representative metal impurities Al, Fe and Ti were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The results indicate that the metal impurities segregate into the eutectic Al-Si melt during the growth of primary Si flakes and gradually segregate towards the top of each ingot during directional solidification. A concept of apparent segregation coefficient is proposed to characterize the segregation behavior of impurity elements. The apparent segregation coefficients of metal impurities decrease with increase in solidification temperature of the Al-Si alloys.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lynch D (2009) Winning the global race for solar silicon. JOM 61:41–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Martorano MA, Ferreira Neto JB, Oliveira TS, Tsubaki TO (2011) Refining of metallurgical silicon by directional solidification. Mater Sci Eng B 176:217–226

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mei PR, Moreira SP, Cardoso E, Côrtes ADS, Marques FC (2012) Purification of metallurgical silicon by horizontal zone melting. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 98:233–239

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Trumbore FA (1960) Solid solubilities of impurity elements in germanium and silicon. Bell Syst Technol J 39:205–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Johnston MD, Barati M (2010) Distribution of impurity elements in slag-silicon equilibria for oxidative refining of metallurgical silicon for solar cell applications. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 94:2085–2090

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Li Y, Wu J, Ma W, Yang B (2015) Boron removal from metallurgical grade silicon using a refining technique of calcium silicate molten slag containing potassium carbonate. Silicon 7:247–252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Nakamura N, Baba H, Sakaguchi Y, Kato Y (2004) Born removal in molten silicon by a steam-added plasma melting method. Mater Trans 45:858–864

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Lee BP, Lee HM, Park DH, Shin JS, Yu TU, Moon BM (2011) Refining of MG-Si by hybrid melting using steam plasma and EMC. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 95:56–58

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Mitrašinović AM, Utigard TA (2009) Refining silicon for solar cell application by copper alloying. Silicon 1:239–248

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Khajavi L T, Morita K, Yoshikawa T, Barati M (2015) Thermodynamics of boron distribution in solvent refining of silicon using ferrosilicon alloys. J Alloy Compd 619:634–638

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Li J, Guo Z (2014) Thermodynamic evaluation of segregation behaviors of metallic impurities in metallurgical grade silicon during Al-Si solvent refining process. J Cryst Growth 394:18–23

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Wang P, Lu H, Lai Y (2014) Control of silicon solidification and the impurities from an Al-Si melt. J Cryst Growth 390:96–100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Morita T, Yoshikawa K (2003) Removal of phosphorus by the solidification refining with Si-Al melts. Sci Technol Adv Mater 4:531–537

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Morita T, Yoshikawa K (2005) Removal of B from Si by solidification refining with Si-Al melts. Metall Mater Trans B 36B:731–736

    Google Scholar 

  15. Li Y, Chen J, Ban B, Zhang S Dai T (2014) Effect of cooling rate on boron removal and solidification behavior of Al-Si alloy. High Temp Mat PrISR 34:43–49

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Li Y, Ban B, Li J, Zhang T, Bai X, Chen J, Dai S (2015) Effect of cooling rate on phosphorus removal during Al-Si solvent refining. Metall Mater Trans B 46B:542–544

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Lu D, Jiang Y, Guan G, Zhou R, Li Z, Zhou R (2007) Refinement of primary Si in hypereutectic Al-Si alloy by electromagnetic stirring. J Mater Process Technol 189:13–18

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ban B, Li Y, Zuo Q, Zhang T, Chen J, Dai S (2015) Refining of metallurgical grade Si by solidification of Al-Si melt under electromagnetic stirring. J Mater Process Technol 222:142– 147

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Yoshikawa T, Morita K (2005) Thermodynamics on the solidification refining of silicon with Si-Al melts. 2005 TMS Annual Meeting, pp 549–558

  20. Sritharan T, Murali S, Hing P (2000) Synthesis of aluminium-iron-silicon intermetallics by reaction of elemental powders. Mater Sci Eng A 286:209–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Raghavan V (2009) AlFeSi (aluminumironsilicon). J Phase Equilib Diff 30:82–83

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ban B, Li J, Bai X, he Q, Chen J, Dai S (2016) Mechanism of B removal by solvent refining of silicon in Al-Si melt with Ti addition. J Alloys Compd 672:489–496

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Esfahani S, Barati M (2011) Purification of metallurgical silicon using iron as an impurity getter part I: growth and separation of Si. Met Mater Int 17:823–829

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Liang SM, Schmid-Fetzer R (2013) Thermodynamic assessment of the Al-P system based on original experimental data. Calphad 42:76–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ban B, Bai X, Li J, Li Y, Chen J, Dai S (2015) The mechanism of P removal by solvent refining in Al-Si-P system. Metall Mater Trans B 46B:2430–2437

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Lei Y, Sun L, Ma W, Wei K, Morita K (2016) Enhancing B removal from Si with small amounts of Ti in electromagnetic solidification refining with Al-Si alloy. J Alloy Compd 666:406–411

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Key Laboratory of Photovolatic and Energy Conservation Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences and financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51474201 and No. 51404231); Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 1508085QE81); CPSF-CAS Joint Foundation for Excellent Postdoctoral Fellows (No. 2016LH0017); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2014M561846); CASHIPS Director’s Funds (Grant No. YYJJ201624); 100 Talent Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(No. 2012065).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jian Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bai, X., Ban, B., Li, J. et al. Segregation Behavior of Metal Impurities During Al-Si Melt Directional Solidification with an Open Ended Crucible. Silicon 10, 1283–1290 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-017-9602-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-017-9602-5

Keywords

Navigation