Our laboratory focusses on developing and designing eco-friendly materials and processes using physical fields, and on elucidating the effects of these fields on the reaction kinetics, transport and interface phenomena. Examples of such fields include ultrasonic and electromagnetic fields, microwaves and plasma.
  Some advantages of this approach are : (1) minimization of chemical waste, (2) reduction of process temperature, (3) improvement of material recyclability.

Recycling

  It is well known that the presence of phosphorus in hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys causes coarsening of Al-Si eutectic even when the phosphorus concentration is as low as a few ppm. The reason is that phosphorus reacts with aluminum to form AlP, the particles of which serve as potential nuclei for silicon due to a very similar lattice parameter with Si.
  The purpose of this research is to investigate the possibilities of reducing the nucleation potency for AlP due to chemical or physical modification of phosphorus-containing compounds. This research includes experimental and numerical invistigations. The experimentally obtained data are discussed on a systematic basis of thermodynamic calculations and compared with the corresponding data from the relevant literature. Particularly, the results reveal that such elements as Mg and Sr are potentially capable of neutralizing the nucleation activity of AlP although their effect is strongly dependent on the presence of other chemical elements in the aluminum alloy.