An adaptive-domain-growth method for phase field simulation of dendrite growth in arc preheated fused-coating additive manufacturing

Abstract

A quantitative phase field (PF) model with adaptive-domain-growth method was developed to investigate the dendrite growth of the arc preheated fused-coating for 2024 aluminum alloy. A macroscopic numerical model was established to provide the solidification parameters of the molten pool. These solidification parameters such as temperature gradient, solidification speed were calculated from the macroscopic model and then fed into the phase field model to get the microstructure. Columnar dendrites can be found at the bottom of molten pool. Moreover, the micro segregation of Al-Cu alloy in arc preheated fused-coating process was studied by simulated and experimental results. The adaptive-domain-growth method is developed in phase field simulation which can improve the efficiency about 50%. The Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS) tests were conducted on the fused-coating specimen, and the results were in good accordance with the simulations.