Abstract:
The main objective of this study is to obtain a fundamental understanding in regard to effects of coatings on melt cleanliness and mechanical properties of aluminium casting prepared by recycling of beverage aluminium cans. Focuses were placed on i) characterization of aluminium can coatings, including both external and internal surfaces of the can, using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray - Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Specloscopy (FTIR) techniques, ii) determination of dissociation temperature of the coatings using Therino Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) technique, and iii) melt cleanliness assessment based on K-Mold assessment, settlement method, fluidity test, and mechanical testing of standard testpiece casting. Regarding the characterization, the coatings comprise of organic and inorganic substances whose types are varied depending upon colours of the coatings. Attempts towards an effective de-coating were also carried out in this study. Based on subsequent examination using SEM and EDS technique, it is found that coating thickness of the aluminium can was reduced after de-coating by heating the can at 530 'Cfor 15 minutes. The remaining portion of the coating appears to be inorganic compounds whose melting temperatures are higher than the heating range tested in this study. Series of casting experiments were carried out and melt cleanliness as well as tension test subsequently conducted. Experimental results from K-Mold test show that castings obtained from de-coated cans are cleaner than those cast from the normal cans. And it is also found that the cleanliness of the aluminium melt is decreased with increased amount of inorganic content in the coatings. Nevertheless, the setrle~nent test suggests no differences between the settlement characteristics of the aluminiummelts obtained from the de-coated cans and regular cans. This is due possibly to the preparation stage of the specimens prior to the analysis. It is observed that these specimens' surfaces are full of porosities, resulting from slow cooling. Inaddition, impurities were likely fallen out because of grinding and polishing during sample preparation. It may be concluded that the settlement rest is not applicable to assessing cleanliness of liquid aluminium. In addition, we also assessed the cleanliness by ineans of fluidity test. The result shows that the liquid aluminium obtained from decoated cans exhibits higher fluidity. Nevertheless, form this study, it is found that there exhibits insignificant difference in tensile strength between the castings cast from the de-coated and the normal cans. This may be because of other uncontrolled factors, for instance pouring and filling causing turbulent flow, which play more important role than the cleanliness. Finally, the result from fluidity test suggests that the heating temperature used in de-coating affects fluidity of the melt. This is due to the fact that the viscosity of the melt, which is governed by impurities suspended in the melt, as well as the tendency towards oxide formation.