At Aluminium Germany (stand 6H22), we will be showcasing our new 5:02 variant that not only meets demand for ‘super-clean’ aluminium, but is also super-efficient.
Developed in partnership with BCAST, Optifine 5:02 is unlike any other grain refiner on the global market, meeting particular demand from the aerospace and luxury car market for high strength and ‘mirror-like’ surface quality applications.
Optifine 5:02 has been developed to retain the benefits of low boride content associated with cleaner products, while delivering significantly improved and more consistent grain refinement performance.
To put into context, a 5:02 grain refiner is seen as the holy grail for cleanliness, but, until now, its use has been restricted primarily to the highest-cleanliness applications because it shows low and inconsistent grain refinement efficiency.
Matthew Piper, Technical Business Development Director for MQP, said: “We’re seeing increasing demand for ‘super-clean’ aluminium, particularly in aerospace and premium automotive applications, where both mechanical performance and surface quality requirements are especially demanding.
“In these applications, grain refiner cleanliness is critical to meeting product specifications, requiring very low levels of inclusions such as agglomerates and other local defects that can affect downstream processing and surface finish.
“Our evaluation of commercially available 5:02 products using the Opticast test has typically shown efficiencies in the range of around 20% to 60% of Optifine 3:1, which explains why their use has historically been limited despite their cleanliness advantages.”
Optifine 5:02 contains only around 20% of the boride present in conventional 5:1 and 3:1 compositions, supporting improved cleanliness while still delivering a minimum efficiency of around 70% relative to Optifine 3:1.
This makes it possible in many applications to significantly reduce addition rates and overall treatment cost while maintaining consistent grain refinement performance.
Add MQP to your Aluminium Germany plan.