Mechanism of skull formation during induction skull melting of intermetallic compounds

The forming mechanism of skull during induction skull melting (ISM) of TiAl intermetallic compounds was investigated by chemical composition analysis, Optical Microscopy (OM), Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA) and ESCA sur vey. The results showed that the forming process of skull during the ISM pr ocess of Ti + Al alloy could be divided into three stages. The distribution of the alloying elements in skull was not homogeneous and the skull bottom had an important influence on composition. The size of skull during the IS M melting processing is smaller than that which remained in the crucible af ter pouring.