Separation of primary solid phases from Al-Si alloy melts

The iron-rich solids formed during solidification of Al-Si alloys which are known to be detrimental to the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the alloys should be removed. On the other hand, Al-Si hypereutectic alloys are used to extract the pure primary silicon which is suitable for photovoltaic cells in the solvent refining process. One of the important issues in iron removal and in solvent refining is the effective separation of the crystallized solids from the Al-Si alloy melts. This paper describes the separation methods of the primary solids from Al-Si alloy melts such as sedimentation, draining, filtration, electromagnetic separation and centrifugal separation, focused on the iron removal and on the separation of silicon in the solvent refining process.