RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEASUREMENT AND

CONTROL OF CERAMIC FOAM FILTER QUALITY

Presented at the International Melt Quality Workshop,
Madrid, Spain, 25-26 October 2001

Steven F Ray
Pyrotek SA
Ile Falcon, 3960 Sierre, Switzerland

Abstract Table I clearly shows the need for more reliable and
consistent control of pore size and a means that can be
Ceramic foam filters are commonly used to clean liquid used to ensure consistent performance regardless of
aluminum. It is well accepted that finer filters have greater manufacturer.
filtration efficiency than coarser filters. It is also well
known that operating difficulties with fine filters have Filter Supplier Supplier Supplier Supplier
prevented their potential from being fully utilised. Grade/ppi A B C D
Perm
89 113 122 74
(Pa)
This paper outlines the improvements made by Pyrotek Pore
30 2453 1940 1875 2237
SA to measure and control filter pore size. It will also (microns)
show how these techniques lead to greater consistency and Density
0.40 0.44 0.43 0.49
(g/cc)
improved efficiencies of casthouse filtration.
Perm
136 275 258 115
(Pa)
Pore
50 1320 984 1022 1367
1.0 Introduction (microns)
Density
0.41 0.44 0.44 0.49
(g/cc)
The use of ceramic foam filters in the aluminium
casthouse has led to an improvement in metal quality for
Table I – Showing variation in Ceramic Foam
many aluminium producers. Ceramic foam filters are now
Filters from the four largest suppliers.
specified for most casting operations and the availability
of consistent fine pore ceramic foam filters offers a
practical alternative to deep bed systems from both a cost
In the author’s opinion; too little attention has been paid to
and quality perspective.
the relationship between the filter pore size and the
filtration efficiency of the filters. Indeed, only since the
There are several manufacturers of ceramic foam filters
widespread utilisation of the LiMCA II system has it been
worldwide, and the quality of filters produced by all these
possible to effectively measure the filtration efficiency, so
has gradually increased over the last 20 years. The current
that filtration mechanisms and in particular the effect of
situation is that all the manufacturers are able to produce a
filter pore size can be further understood.
fine quality ceramic material in the replica of the starting
foam.
This paper will detail some recent studies of filtration
efficiency undertaken jointly by Pyrotek Engineering
Traditionally ceramic foam filter manufacturers have used
Materials and VAW R&D in Bonn[2, 3, 4]. It will then show
ppi or pores per inch to indicate the pore size of ceramic
how this information has been used to both improve the
foam filters. This has served well as a guide, however;
understanding of the ceramic foam filtration mechanisms
since there are no standard test methods for measuring ppi,
and thus improve the quality and consistency of the filters.
it has led to large discrepancies in pore size between
various filter manufacturers. This lack of an absolute
measurement of pore size has made it difficult for
1.1 Ceramic Foam Filter Geometry
manufacturers to control filter quality, leading to
inconsistencies in practical application.
Various terminologies are used to describe the size of the
pores in ceramic foam. In this paper, the terms cell size
As an example of the sort of discrepancies that can be seen
and pore size are taken to mean the same and are used
from commercially available ceramic foam filters, Table I
interchangeably. Further explanations as to the physical
shows pores size, permeability and density of two filter
properties these terms relate to are given on the following
grades or ppi’s for the four largest filter manufacturers.
page.
Ceramic foam filters are produced by impregnating
reticulated polyurethane foam with a ceramic slip,
removing the excess slip by squeezing the foam, and then
drying and firing the body. The result is a ceramic replica
of the original foam.
The structure can be regarded as a series of interconnected
dodecahedra. Fig 1 shows a model of a foam structure.
Fig 1a shows a single dodecahedra representing a foam
cell or pore. Fig 1b shows four such dodecahedra
interconnected such as is the case in a small section of a
ceramic foam filter.
Figure 1a – A dodecahedra representing a single
cell or pore in a ceramic foam filter
Figure 1b – Four interconnected dodecahedra
showing a typical structure of a ceramic foam filter
Figure 1 – Representations of a Ceramic Foam Geometry
The cell or pore size is the diameter of the individual
dodecahedra. The window size is the diameter of the
interconnecting area between the dodecahedra. The
window size and cell or pore size are, as one might expect
– geometrically related. This will be shown in more detail
later in the paper (Figure 5).
Another visualisation of foam geometry is shown in
Figure 2. Here spheres represent the pores and these are
interconnected. The pore or cell diameter is indicated by p
and the window diameter by φ.
Figure 2 – A schematic representation of the
pores in a ceramic foam filter showing
pore diameter p and window diameter φ
Finally Figure 3 (overleaf) shows the difference between
windows and pores by highlighting them on a piece of
foam. For each image, a sample of polyurethane foam,
treated with blue colorant was photographed. The pores
and windows were then highlighted using the image
analysis system developed by Pyrotek SA.
 An advantage of the test is that it is non-destructive.
Neither foam nor filter is damaged during testing.

The lighting of the sample is very important. Different

lighting techniques are required for pore and window size
measurements. For pore size measurements, one must try
to obtain an image as close as possible to a 2D
representation of the filter surface. For window size
measurements, it is necessary to light the sample so that
the internal structure can be seen.

Figure 4 shows the correlation between both foam pore (or

cell) and window size and foam permeability.

5
Figure 3a – Highlighting the measured Windows
cell size window size
4

diameter (microns)
3

Thousands
2

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
foam permeability

Figure 4 - Foam cell and window

Figure 3b – Highlighting the measured Pores (or Cells) size versus foam permeability
Figure 3 – Showing the difference between
pores and windows by highlighting them Figure 5 shows the correlation between foam cell (or pore)
on a piece of polyeurethane foam size and window size. Points are plotted for the entire
range of foam from Grades 10 to 80. A regression
analysis on this correlation gives r2 as 0.993 and the
gradient of the line as 2.757.
2.0 Measurement Techniques and Results
5
A measurement technique to measure pore size was first
developed in 1997. The system is proprietary to Pyrotek
4
Engineering Materials Ltd and Pyrotek SA. The first
cell size (microns)

embodiment of this system was presented at the Annual

TMS meeting in San Diego 1998[5]. 3
Thousands

The technique uses a high performance Image Analysis 2

System. The images are taken using a Stereoscopic zoom
microscope with a magnification range from 3 to 60 times. 1
The microscope is fitted with a 3-CCD camera linked to
the image analysis system. 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Foam samples are treated before processing to increase the window size (microns)
contrast of the otherwise black on black image. It is not
necessary to treat filter samples.
Figure 5 - Correlation between foam pore
size and foam window size
Figure 6 shows the correlation of filter pore size and foam
pore size. The regression analysis gives r2 of 0.998 and
the gradient is 0.932. This indicates that the filter pores
(or cells) are slightly smaller than the foam pores (or
cells).
5
required to achieve this is inversely proportional to the
size of the pore. Figure 7 shows the effect of pore size on
the height of metal required to prime a filter. Clearly, the
smaller the pore size, the greater the metal height (or
metallostatic pressure) required to initiate metal flow. The
graph shows a minimum and maximum priming height to
compensate for various production conditions and alloy
types.

4
450
filter cell size (microns)

400
min priming height
3 350
Thousands

max priming height

priming height (mm)

300

250
2
200

150
1
100

50

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Thousands pore size (microns)
foam cell size (microns)

Figure 7 – The height of metal required to

Figure 6 – Correlation between filter
pore size and foam pore size
3.0 Discussion
prime a filter, related to the pore size
Since the metal flows through the pores, the quantity and
size of inclusions captured and thus the efficiency of the
filter is related to the size of the pores. Smaller pores
capture smaller inclusions.

A system to automatically measure the pore size of
ceramic foam filters and reticulated polyurethane foams
has been developed, and proven to be reliable.
A correlation between foam pore size and foam
permeability has been made.
There are also good correlations between:
• foam pore size and foam window size
• filter pore size and foam pore size
Figure 8 shows a summary of some of the work carried
out jointly by Pyrotek and VAW R&D[2, 3, 4]. The graph
refers to LiMCA II removal efficiency data for 17” filters
at 10 tonnes per hour in 1050 alloy with no grain refiner or
degassing upstream of the filter. It shows that there is a
significant difference in average removal efficiency for the
two different pore size filters. Clearly the probability of
capturing smaller inclusions is higher with a smaller pore
size.
100

The former confirms that there is a geometric relationship

between pore size and window size. The latter shows that 90

by carefully controlling the starting foam it is possible to

control the final filter pore size. 80

70

3.1 The importance of pore size

60

Pore size is important because it is the most critical factor Grade 30 Grade 50
controlling the priming and efficiency of a ceramic foam 50
filter. 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60
Inclusions Sizes (microns)

For a filter to prime, liquid aluminium must displace the Figure 8 – Average inclusion removal efficiency for
air in the pores at the surface of the filter. The pressure various inclusion sizes and for Grade 30 and 50 filters
Finally one must consider that there is a range of pore
sizes within any filter. The variation of pore sizes can also
have a tremendous effect on the consistency of filtration
efficiencies.
Figure 9 is again taken from work undertaken jointly by
Pyrotek and VAW R&D. In this graph an attempt to
highlight the reliability of various filter grades has been
made. During many trials, a range of inclusion removal
efficiencies were recorded. This graph shows the range of
inclusion removal efficiencies recorded as well as the
range of pore sizes in a filter.
Figure 9 – Pore size and inclusion removal efficiency
distribution for filter grades 30, 50 and 80.
Figure 9 illustrates that whilst all filters are capable of
producing good filtration performance, one must take into
consideration the performance over many casts to gain a
good understanding of their behaviour. Clearly, filters
with smaller pores have less variation in pore sizes and a
more reliable filtration performance.
3.2 Relationship between pore size and air permeability
Air permeability is a test method that determines the
resistance to flow (or pressure drop) across a piece of
reticulated foam or ceramic foam filters. It is often used
to indicate the differences between filter grades.
Logically, the pore size of the filter should be related to air
permeability, however there are a number of other factors
that work in combination with the pore size to determine
the permeability of a filter. These include the amount of
ceramic material used to coat the foam, the quality of the
coating and the number of blocked pores.
So it is quite possible to have two filters with the same
pore sizes and very different permeabilities, or the same
permeability and different pore sizes. It is therefore
important to be able to measure and control both the air
permeability and pore size of ceramic foam filters. It will
be shown later that the pore size, and not the air
permeability of the filter determines filtration efficiency;
however, the air permeability influences the running head
of the filter and therefore must be controlled within
acceptable limits.
700
Permeability (Pa)
350
0.5
0
0.46
750 Density (g/cc)
1250
1750 0.42
2250
Pore Size (microns)
Figure 10 – The relationship between filter
density, pore size and permeability
Figure 10 shows this affect graphically. The three factors
considered here are filter pore size, filter permeability and
filter density (an indication of the amount of ceramic used
to coat the foam). The graph clearly shows that it is
important to monitor and control all three of these
parameters. Furthermore, it is possible for filters of the
same permeability to have very different pore sizes.
3.3 Improvements in the Filter Manufacturing Process 4.0 Conclusions

The measurement technique developed is now an integral
part of Pyrotek’s quality control system for the production
of SIVEX ceramic foam filters.
The system is used to check incoming foam pore size.
This has allowed a revision of the specification of ceramic
foam filters. There have been four changes.
A technique for measurement of ceramic foam filters and
reticulated polyurethane foams has been developed, and
proven to be reliable.
• Technique successfully introduced as a Quality
Control tool
• New filter specifications have been developed to
improve filter quality and ultimately metal quality

• Filters are now referred to by ‘grade’ and not ppi
• The mean pore sizes follow a logical pattern. A grade
20 has a pore size of approximately half that of a grade
10. A grade 40 is half of a grade 20 etc.
• The tolerances for pore sizes with each grade have
been reduced leading to improved consistency
• There are distinct gaps between filter grades
The influence of pore size on filter performance has been
presented, notably:
• The relationship between pore size and priming
height
• The effect of pore size upon the probability of
inclusion capture, by size of inclusion
• The reliability of filters as a function of pore size

These improvements are shown graphically in Figure 11
and the new specifications are shown in Table II.
The interaction between pore size, air permeability and
filter density has been discussed.
• It is possible to have the same permeability, but very
different pore sizes
• It is therefore important to control all these
parameters during filter production.
• Only by controlling all these parameters can the
reliability of ceramic foam filters be improved

5.0 References

(1) S Ray, B Milligan

’Recent Improvements in the Measurement and
Control of Ceramic Foam Filter Quality’, APPA
2001

Figure 11 – Comparison of new and old specifications for (2) N J Keegan, W Schneider, H P Krug, N Towsey, A
SIVEX Ceramic Foam Filters Hardman
‘The Influence of Grain Refiners on the Efficiency of
Filter Average Cell Size (microns) Ceramic foam Filters’, Light Metals 2001, p 973-977
Grade
Min Max
(3) N J Keegan, W Schneider, H P Krug
10 3800 5100
‘Evaluation of the Efficiency of Fine Pore Ceramic
20 2300 2900 Foam’, Light Metals 1999, pp 1031 – 1041
30 1705 2105
40 1250 1510 (4) N J Keegan, W Schneider, H P Krug
‘Efficiency and Performance of Industrial Filtration
50 900 1120
Systems’, 6th Australasian Asian Pacific Course and
65 710 860 Conference, Aluminium Casthouse Technology:
80 600 700 Theory and Practice (ED: M Nilmani), TMS 1999,
pp 159-174

Table II – New specifications for (5) S Ray, N J Keegan

SIVEX Ceramic Foam Filters ‘Measurement of Cell and Window Size in Ceramic
Foam Filter Manufacture’, Light Metals 1998, pp
885 - 894