This CAREER award to Carnegie Mellon University is to carry out research and educational activities in the field of high temperature metallurgy by utilizing direct visualization of processes that are critical for producing metals and alloys. With this award, the PI will study the separation of non-metallic inclusions from molten metals into molten oxide slags by viewing the interface area and cross section with Confocal Scanning Laser Microscopy (CSLM) and X-ray fluoroscopy respectively. A model will be developed to predict the separation rates, inclusion of size and shape changes during the process, and comparing this model to the experimental observations. The effects of liquid film drainage and rupture, and changes in the inclusion due to deformation, and chemical reaction with the slag will be studied. Understanding and predicting the separation of non-metallic inclusions across steel/slag interfaces will enable industries to design slag and inclusion chemistries to achieve cleaner melts and thus produce more predictable micro-structures, which would result in increased product quality, process control and less waste. A web-based package will be developed for visualizing phase transformations, solidification and melting of various selected compositions across the iron-carbon binary systems for demonstrations in lectures or as "virtual experiments". In terms of outreach, a module will be developed for Summer Academic Minority Students in an effort to expose them to opportunities and challenges in Materials Science and Engineering fields.
Spectroscopic methods will be developed for the visualization of metallurgical processes such as the separation of non-metallic inclusions from molten metals into molten oxide slags by viewing the interface area and cross section. A modeling and computer simulations will be carried out to predict the separation rates between molten metals from nonmetallic oxide slags, and to control changes in the size and shape of inclusions during the metallurgical processes. These studies would be of potential benefit to industrial applications in alloy refinements and processing. The planned web-based program would be of benefit to a wider community interested in metallurgical processes. The proposed outreach program to develop a module for Summer Academic Minority Students would create interest in and provide opportunities for these students in Materials Science and Engineering fields.
