Experimental Investigation of Gas Evolution as the Mechanism for Free-Contact Fragmentation

An experimental investigation was made to assess the hypothesis of Epstein that violent release of dissolved gas upon rapid cooling of a molten metal is responsible for observed free-contact fragmentation. Results from quenching tin drops initially heated in vacuum and air to develop drastic initial differences in oxygen solubility levels did not demonstrate any differences in observed fragmentation occurrence or intensity. It is concluded that this hypothesis is not the operative mechanism for free-contact fragmentation in the tin-water system.