Determination of the distribution and content of boron in aluminium casting strands. 1

Neutron-induced autoradiography was applied to investigate and optimize grain refining in the production of aluminium casting strands. The behaviour of the alloy AlTi5B1 used for grain refining was studied by analysis of both content and distribution of boron. This paper is concerned with the quantitative determinatin of track densities by means of the image analyzer type A 6471 and the results obtained are discussed in comparison with the amount of tracks visually counted. Boron contents as calculated from track densities are compared with calibration functions relating track density to the boron content determined by chemical analysis. The content of boron depends on the position of the autoradiographed plane in the sample, allowing, with its distribution taken into consideration, grain-refining processes to be studied. (author)