Calcium and aluminum are used by the metallurgical industry for a variety of purposes.Of particular importance today is their incorporation into lead, generally together with tin, to form the grids for maintenance-free auto batteries. The addition of calcium to the lead reduces gassing during battery operation, thus permitting the battery to be sealed.
Alloying calcium with aluminum by reduction of calcium oxide by molten aluminum. homogeneous calcium/aluminum alloys containing a major pro
portion of calcium can be prepared from the elemental forms of the constituents by the controlled addition of aluminum to molten calcium, under an inert atmosphere to obtain a melt of a desired composition, the temperature of the melt during the addition being maintained at from about 550 to 1100 C., the aluminum being added at a rate to prevent substantial solids formation in the melt during the addition.
If the addition is not controlled, localized concentration of aluminum in the melt causes precipitation of the high melting intermetallic compound CaAl2 calcium/aluminum atomic ratio of 33/67); since the precipitate does not readily
redissolve, a non-homogeneous alloy product then results. Calcium effect on aluminum-silicon alloys is to increase strength and decrease elongation, but it does not make these alloys heat treatable.
for more details Aluminum can be alloyed in the molten lead via a tin–aluminum master alloy. The simplest method to protect Ca is to add aluminum to the alloy. A loading in specific level of Al in the alloy is sufficient to prevent Ca loss during grid casting.