Numerical study of growth competition between twin grains during directional solidification by using multi-phase field method

Abstract

A multi-phase field model is established to simulate the growth competition and evolution behavior between seaweed and columnar dendrites during directional solidification. According to the effects of surface tension and interfacial energy, we quantitatively analyze the influences of factors such as inclination angles, pulling velocity, and anisotropic strength on twin growth. The results demonstrate that the pulling velocity and anisotropic strength have an important influence on the morphology and evolution of the seaweed and dendritic growth. The low pulling velocity and anisotropic strength are both key parameters for maintaining the stable morphology of seaweed during competitive growth in a bicrystal, showing that the lateral branching behavior is the root of the dendrites that can ultimately dominate the growth. And it is clarified that the lateral branching behavior and lateral blocking are the root causes of the final dominant growth of dendrites. With the increase of anisotropy strength, the seaweed is eliminated fastest in case 1, the seaweed is transformed into degenerate dendritic morphology, and eliminates the seaweed by promoting the generation and lateral growth of the lateral branches of the dendrites. The increase of pulling velocity is to increase the undercooling of favorable oriented grain and accelerate the growth rate of dendrites, thus producing more new primary dendrites for lateral expansion and accelerating the elimination rate of unfavorable oriented grain.