Thesis Title Development of Environmentally-Friendly Flux for

Aluminum Alloy Melting Process

Thesis Credits 12
Candidate Miss Natcharee Nitisantawakoop
Thesis Advisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chaowalit Limmaneevichitr
Program Master of Engineering
Field of Study Metallurgical Engineering
Department Production Engineering
Faculty Engineering
B.E. 2553

Abstract

During the aluminum melting process, a flux is always used to prevent oxide formation on the
surface of molten aluminum and to clean the molten aluminum. Low quality flux may cause
problems such as flux contamination because of its high melting point and lower efficiency. To
overcome the problems, the melting process requires higher temperatures and larger amounts of
flux. Using a larger amount of flux in the process can generate more pollution and toxic waste. In
addition, commercially available flux is expensive and difficult to produce. Thus, the objective of
this research is to develop an environmentally friendly flux by using a new and simple method. The
flux ingredients used were NaCl, KCl and NaF, which are widely available and inexpensive. The
new flux was prepared by dissolving the mixture in water, then recrystallizing the solution by
evaporation. The new flux was found to be homogeneous with a melting range of 598 C - 652 C,
lower than commonly used flux, which is a heterogeneous mixture of different crystals with a
higher melting range of 648 C - 694 C. The performance of flux was determined by using the
melt cleanliness and recovery of the melt. The result revealed that the quality and cleanliness of
recycled aluminum with 3% of homogeneous flux is highest. Up to 2% of homogeneous flux is
needed to obtain cleanliness of recycled aluminum as compared to 3% of heterogeneous flux. Air
pollution generated during the melting process, including dust, chloride, fluoride and toxic gases
(NOx and SOx), was measured after applying the different fluxes at the same amount of flux. The
result revealed that the concentrations of fluoride and NOx emitted from homogeneous flux were
less than that of heterogeneous flux. The amount of dust was the same with in both types. However,



the concentration of chloride emitted from homogeneous flux is higher than that of heterogeneous
flux because the homogeneous flux could melt more easily, so a larger amount of flux reacted with
the molten aluminum. Even though the homogeneous flux generated more chloride, chloride
emissions from the homogeneous flux can be reduced because the total amount of flux needed was
less as compared to the heterogeneous flux.

The homogeneous flux developed using this new and simple method can be made from widely
available and inexpensive chemicals. Because lower amounts of this new homogeneous flux are
needed, it is believed that energy and pollution can be substantially reduced, resulting in an
environmentally-friendly aluminum melting process.

Keywords: Flux / Aluminum Process / Cleanliness / Air Pollution