Separation and purification of Si from solidification of hypereutectic Al-Si melt under rotating magnetic field

A low-cost and high-efficiency method to purify Si directly from cheap MG-Si at low temperature was proposed and demonstrated in this paper, which used power frequency rotating magnetic field (RMF) to separate the primary Si from a hypereutectic Al-Si alloy and was followed by the acid peeling. The separation mechanism was based on the flow characteristic of melt under RMF and the cooling condition of the liquid metal. A Si-rich layer with Si content of 65-59 wt% was formed in the periphery of alloy, while the inner microstructure of the alloy was mainly the Al-Si eutectic structure. The refined silicon was collected after aqua regia leaching, and had much fewer typical impurities (Fe, Ti, Ca, B, P) than those in MG-Si, and the metallic impurities besides Al had removal fraction higher than 98%, which is mainly ascribed to the segregation effect of Al-30Si alloy during solidification under RMF.