Redistribution of particles during casting of composite melts: Effects of buoyancy and particle pushing

Abstract

When a melt containing a dispersion of second phase particles is solidified, the initial distribution of the particles can change due to three phenomena, namely, buoyant motion of the particles, pushing of the particles by the moving solidification front, and by convection currents in the melt. This paper presents a computer simulation model using which, the net redistribution due to the combined effect of the first two phenomena can be predicted. the existing theory for calculating the critical velocity for particle pushing is extended to include the effect of the buoyancy force and a numerical correlation is developed for easy calculation of the critical velocity. This correlation is incorporated into a computer programme which tracks the position, velocity and direction of the solidification front as well as the position of each particle in the melt as a function of time. The final positions of the particles describe the distribution of the particles in the solidified material. Predicted distributions for various heat extraction rates and particle sizes are presented for a system of silicon carbide particles in a pure aluminium melt solidifying unidirectionally as well as multidirectionally in cylindrical moulds. It is shown that for any heat extraction rate there is an optimum particle size which gives the maximum uniformity of distribution in the solidified material.