Experimental Study of the Effect of Intermittent Electromagnetic Stirring on the Columnar-Equiaxed Transition in Sn–10 wt % Pb Alloy Solidification

Abstract

Abstract Experimental analysis of stratification, electromagnetic stirring (EMS), and solidification were carried out for two solidification experiments for a binary Sn–10 wt % Pb alloy. The objective of this study is to examine the effect of forced convection driven by an intermittent traveling magnetic field on the solidification process. Several aspects were investigated, namely, thermal field, macrostructure, and finally segregation behavior, as well as morphology. The effect of the both thermal and solutal stratification on the intensity of the flow is discussed yet showed that stratification has a stabilizing effect for the flow, which can also slow the convective hydrodynamic movements generated by the buoyancy forces. The consequence of this stratification on macrosegregations and channel segregation, which develop during the solidification period, is experimentally analyzed. EMS by intermittent traveling magnetic promotes the development of the columnar-equiaxed transition mechanism (CET), more particularly the refinement of the grain size. The results illustrate, also, that EMS effectively diminish macrosegregations significantly, while remaining inactive for reducing channels segregation development.