Modeling of microstructure evolution during directional solidification process

Abstract

A model was presented to describe the microstructure evolution during the directional solidification process. In this model, the problem of different properties in the solid and liquid phase was solved by making the properties continuous at the solid/liquid interface. Furthermore, a random noise was incorporated to reflect the anisotropic growth. Moreover, the averaging solute conservation was developed to keep the total solute conservation in the interface region. A simple ingot was simulated by this method, the model can represent the microstructure evolution, solute concentration redistribution, micro-segregation and the columnar-to-equiaxed transition.