Study on solubility of oxygen in liquid metal

A thermodynamic model, which is applicable when one oxide forms at the metal portion in the metal–oxygen system, is developed based on the ionic two sublattice liquid model to deduce general solubility expressions of oxygen in liquid metal. By substituting the relative thermodynamic parameters from references, specific solubilities of oxygen are calculated and compared with previous studies in liquid copper at 1340–1473 K, in liquid nickel at 1722–1873 K, and in liquid iron at 1811–1973 K. An overall good agreement is shown. This thermodynamic model is also applicable to calculate solubilities of other solute elements, such as sulphur, in liquid metals (some calculations have been carried out and are in good agreement with previous calculations). Meanwhile, this thermodynamic model can be used to calculate precipitation in solidification and can lead to the development of a similar thermodynamic model for solubility products of oxides in liquid metals (some preliminary work also has been done).