In situ analysis of dendritic growth and fragmentation in solidifying Ga – In alloys


In situ analysis of dendritic growth and fragmentation in solidifying Ga – In alloys

Shevchenko, N.; Roshchupkina, O.; Eckert, S.

Simultaneous study of solidification phenomena on different length scales (e.g. µm-sized dendrite morphology and mm-sized flow structures) raises a serious problem. Since several years X-ray radioscopy has been proposed and successfully used as an effective tool for in situ real time observations of the dendrite growth, concentration field and flow patterns. The upward directional solidification of Ga-25wt%In alloy within a Hele-Shaw cell was studied by in situ X-ray radioscopy. This work is focused on the investigation of the influence of natural convection on the concentration profiles, dendrite morphology, growth velocities, freckle formation and fragmentation. Additionally, we use the Optical Flow approach proposed by Boden et al. [1] for the estimation of the melt flow ahead of the solidification front.
The ascending plumes and the downward flow of In-rich melt lead to an inhomogeneous horizontal concentration profile along the solidification front. Variations of the vertical and lateral temperature gradients induce modifications of the melt flow pattern, which lead to different segregation structures and dendrite morphology. The dendrite growth velocity is mainly determined by the dynamics of the solute plumes which cause significant fluctuations of solute concentration. Our in situ experiments provide quantitative data on concentration, flow fields, tip velocity, etc. for the verification of actual models of freckle formation [2].
The second part of the study is devoted to the visualization of the fragmentation process in the mushy zone. Numerous events of detachment of secondary arms from the primary trunks occur in the deeper mushy zone. These fragments remain within the inter-dendritic regions. Fragments originating in the upper mushy zone can ascend by convective transport in the plumes and arrive in undercooled regions ahead of the dendritic front. Future work is in progress in order to classify our experimental data with respect to the known fragmentation mechanisms.

  • Poster
    Modelling of Casting, Welding and Advanced Solidification Processes, 21.-26.06.2015, Awaji island, Hygo, Japan

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Publ.-Id: 21981