Synchrotron X-ray operando study and multiphysics modelling of the solidification dynamics of intermetallic phases under electromagnetic pulses

Abstract

In this paper, we used synchrotron X-ray radiography and tomography to study systematically and in operando conditions the growth dynamics of the primary Al3Ni intermetallic phases in an Al-15wt%Ni alloy in the solidification process with magnetic pulses of up to 1.5 T. The real-time observations clearly revealed the growth dynamics of the intermetallics in time scale from millisecond to minutes, including phase growth instability, side branching, fragmentation and orientation alignment under different magnetic pulse fluxes. A multiphysics numerical model was also developed to calculate the alternating and cyclic Lorentz forces and stresses acting on the Al3Ni phases and the nearby melt due to the applied pulses. Combining the results of the operando experiments and modelling, for the first time, the differential forces between the growing Al3Ni phases and the nearby melt were quantified. The forces can create slip dislocations at the growing crystal front which can further develop into nm and µm crystal steps for initiating phase branching. Furthermore, the magnitudes of the shear stresses are strongly related to the size, morphological and geometric features of the growing Al3Ni phases. Dependent on the magnitude of the shear stresses, phase fragmentation could occur in a single pulse period or in multiple pulse periods via fatigue mechanism. This systematic research work elucidate some of the long-time debated hypotheses concerning intermetallic phases growth instability and phase fragmentation in pulse magnetic fields. The research establishes a robust theoretical framework for quantitative understanding of the intermetallic phase growth dynamics in solidification under pulse magnetic fields.