Progress in Explosion Mechanisms and Prevention Technologies for Direct Chill Casting Aluminum Melt Upon Water Contact: A Review

ABSTRACT Explosions caused by unintended contact between leaked molten aluminum and water represent a core safety hazard restricting safe production in direct chill (DC) casting across the aluminum processing industry. In recent years, molten aluminum–water explosion accidents have occurred frequently in DC casting facilities, creating an urgent demand for targeted risk management and control. Clarifying the mechanism of molten aluminum–water explosions is a critical prerequisite for developing explosion prevention technologies. This paper systematically reviews the mechanisms, key influencing factors, and cutting‐edge prevention and control technologies for molten aluminum–water explosions in DC casting. Such explosions are essentially physicochemical coupled events dominated by physical explosion mechanisms. Even when only 3%–6% of the molten aluminum reacts with water, the hydrogen generated can significantly amplify explosion intensity, and the overall process exhibits distinct staged kinetic characteristics. This review clarifies the governing rules of key influencing parameters, the correlation between explosion intensity levels and hazard severity, and the remaining gaps in current theoretical research. It also summarizes the advantages and application limitations of existing prevention and control technologies, pointing out that single monitoring or protection measures have notable inherent shortcomings. The research indicates that an integrated multi‐technology prevention and control system delivers synergistic effects. Intelligent, integrated technical solutions represent a key future direction for DC casting explosion prevention and control. This review provides theoretical support for advancing the intrinsic safety level of the industry.