Direct Observation of Formation Behavior of Metal Emulsion in Sn/Salt System

Using two systems with different interfacial tensions, the behavior of metal emulsions during bottom blowing was observed directly with a high-speed camera. The interfacial tension between molten salt (KCl-LiCl-NaCl) and molten Sn was measured by a pendant drop method, and it decreased to about 100 mN/m when the Te content in Sn increased from 0 to 0.5 pct. In both systems, two types of metal emulsion behaviors were observed. In Mode A, fine metal droplets were formed after the metal film ruptured at the interface. In Mode B, the formation of coarse droplets was observed after the disintegration of the column generated by the rising bubble, and the number of droplets increased with the gas flow rate compared to that in Mode A. The generating frequency of each mode revealed that Mode B became dominant with increasing gas flow rate. In the pure Sn/salt system, the numbers of droplets of Mode B showed a local maximum at high gas flow rates, but the numbers of droplets in Sn-0.5 pctTe/salt increased continuously even in the same flow range. Regarding the size distribution, the percentage of coarse metal droplets in the Sn-0.5 pctTe alloy/salt was larger than that in the pure Sn/salt. Furthermore, the effect of interfacial tension on the variation in surface area and volume of the droplets showed a similar tendency for the column height. Therefore, a decrement of the interfacial tension led to an increment of the column height when Mode B occurred and finally resulted in a higher interfacial area.