Home foundry — melting aluminum, mitigating undesirables I am going to be melting aluminum cylinder head and some soda cans in the home foundry. I am aware the sulphur and the hydrogen present in the melt can make aluminum prone to cracks and brittle.
Are there recommended ingredients that can be put inside the molten aluminum besides flux that precipitates or remove undesirables?
I never encountered S or C as problems in Al. The problem with hydrogen is that it can cause porosity as it is dissolved in the molten Al and comes out as a gas during freezing. Engine blocks and heads are usually Si alloys ( 5 to 12 %) like the wheels. They may have some Cu to make it hardenable. I expect contamination problems would be more likely Fe and Cu ( getting too high ). The cans usually have very little alloy.