Dissolution and diffusion behavior of Al2O3 in a CaO–Al2O3–SiO2 liquid: An experimental-numerical approach

Abstract

A technique to study the dissolution and diffusion behavior of Al2O3 in CaO–Al2O3–SiO2 liquids is presented. The dissolution of spherical Al2O3 particles at elevated temperatures is observed using confocal scanning laser microscopy and interpreted by means of numerical simulations with a lattice Boltzmann dissolution model. The dissolution mechanism is identified as diffusion-controlled and an estimate of the effective binary diffusion coefficient and its activation energy is obtained. The technique is readily applicable to other systems.