Melting Rate of Spherical Metallic Particles in Its Own Melt: Effect of Particle Temperature, Bath Temperature, Particle Size and Stirring Conditions

The melting process of particulate metallic additions to liquid metals is an important phenomenon in metallurgical processes. In order to enhance their melting rate, it is important to understand the effect of different process variables. In this work, the effect of particle size, particle temperature, bath temperature and stirring conditions has been experimentally investigated. Additionally, a numerical model that includes changes in the heat transfer coefficient as a function of the instantaneous radius of the addition and changes in the thermo-physical properties of the addition as a function of temperature has been developed and validated with the experimental data. The melting rate has been expressed in one equation that includes all process variables.