In this work, the removal of manganese from nickel melts by Ar and (10%, 20% and 40%) H₂ plasma arc melting under various pressures (0.01⁻0.02, 0.04⁻0.05 and 0.09⁻0.1 MPa) was investigated experimentally. The results show that only a slight reduction in the manganese content is obtained by Ar plasma arc melting (PAM). By contrast, the manganese content of liquid nickel decreases noticeably upon the addition of hydrogen to plasma gas, and the rate of manganese removal increases with increasing hydrogen volume fraction. In addition, the reduction in the pressure enhances the efficiency of manganese removal from liquid nickel by hydrogen plasma arc melting (HPAM). The process of manganese removal by HPAM was found to obey a first-order rate law. From kinetic analysis, the rate of reduction in the manganese content increases proportionally to the 0.73⁻0.75th power of the hydrogen volume fraction in the plasma gas. However, the rate of the manganese content reduction increases proportionally to approximately 0.88th power of %H₂ in the plasma gas for the initial manganese content of 0.89 mass%, which is slightly higher than that for the initial manganese concentration of 0.45 mass%. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that the volatilization of manganese benefits from negative pressure and the presence of active hydrogen atoms that act as the transfer media of the metal vapor in the gas boundary layer.
Keywords: hydrogen plasma arc melting; kinetic; manganese removal; nickel melt; thermodynamic.