Fusibility


The fusibility of a material is the ease at which the material can be fused together or to the temperature or amount of heat required to melt a material.
Materials such as solder require a relatively low melting point so that when heat is applied to a joint, the solder will melt before the materials being soldered together melt, i.e. high fusibility. On the other hand, firebricks used for furnace linings only melt at very high temperatures and so have low fusibility. Materials that only melt at very high temperatures are called refractory materials.

Scientific methods

To find the fusibility of certain compounds/materials, there are 2 methods:

Heat test

The most common test used to determine fusibility is to use a variable heat source and increasing with relative amounts.

Ash fusibility test

In the context of coal analysis, ash fusibility values of the residual coal ash of a coal are often specified. The values are determined using an empirical method based on the geometrical changes of a conical ash sample. The fusibility of the ash is of interest because it roughly indicates the properties of the clinker that will be produced during burning.