1,734 research outputs found
Multiscale Problems in Solidification Processes
Our objective is to describe solidification phenomena in alloy systems. In the classical approach, balance equations in the phases are coupled to conditions on the phase boundaries which are modelled as moving hypersurfaces. The Gibbs-Thomson condition ensures that the evolution is consistent with thermodynamics. We present a derivation of that condition by defining the motion via a localized gradient flow of the entropy.
Another general framework for modelling solidification of alloys with multiple phases and components is based on the phase field approach. The phase boundary motion is then given by a system of Allen-Cahn type equations for order parameters. In the sharp interface limit, i.e., if the smallest length scale ± related to the thickness of the diffuse phase boundaries converges to zero, a model with moving boundaries is recovered. In the case of two phases
it can even be shown that the approximation of the sharp interface model by the phase field model is of second order in ±. Nowadays it is not possible to simulate the microstructure evolution in a whole workpiece. We present a two-scale model derived by homogenization methods including a mathematical justification by an estimate of the model error
Quantitative Phase Field Model of Alloy Solidification
We present a detailed derivation and thin interface analysis of a phase-field
model that can accurately simulate microstructural pattern formation for
low-speed directional solidification of a dilute binary alloy. This advance
with respect to previous phase-field models is achieved by the addition of a
phenomenological "antitrapping" solute current in the mass conservation
relation [A. Karma, Phys. Rev. Lett 87, 115701 (2001)]. This antitrapping
current counterbalances the physical, albeit artificially large, solute
trapping effect generated when a mesoscopic interface thickness is used to
simulate the interface evolution on experimental length and time scales.
Furthermore, it provides additional freedom in the model to suppress other
spurious effects that scale with this thickness when the diffusivity is unequal
in solid and liquid [R. F. Almgren, SIAM J. Appl. Math 59, 2086 (1999)], which
include surface diffusion and a curvature correction to the Stefan condition.
This freedom can also be exploited to make the kinetic undercooling of the
interface arbitrarily small even for mesoscopic values of both the interface
thickness and the phase-field relaxation time, as for the solidification of
pure melts [A. Karma and W.-J. Rappel, Phys. Rev. E 53, R3017 (1996)]. The
performance of the model is demonstrated by calculating accurately for the
first time within a phase-field approach the Mullins-Sekerka stability spectrum
of a planar interface and nonlinear cellular shapes for realistic alloy
parameters and growth conditions.Comment: 51 pages RevTeX, 5 figures; expanded introduction and discussion; one
table and one reference added; various small correction
Transient convective instabilities in directional solidification
We study the convective instability of the melt during the initial transient
in a directional solidification experiment in a vertical configuration. We
obtain analytically the dispersion relation, and perform an additional
asymptotic expansion for large Rayleigh number that permits a simpler
analytical analysis and a better numerical behavior. We find a transient
instability, i.e. a regime in which the system destabilizes during the
transient whereas the final unperturbed steady state is stable. This could be
relevant to growth mode predictions in solidification.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures. The following article has been accepted for
publication in Physics of Fluids. After it is published, it will be found at
http://pof.aip.or
Lattice Boltzmann simulations of 3D crystal growth: Numerical schemes for a phase-field model with anti-trapping current
A lattice-Boltzmann (LB) scheme, based on the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK)
collision rules is developed for a phase-field model of alloy solidification in
order to simulate the growth of dendrites. The solidification of a binary alloy
is considered, taking into account diffusive transport of heat and solute, as
well as the anisotropy of the solid-liquid interfacial free energy. The
anisotropic terms in the phase-field evolution equation, the phenomenological
anti-trapping current (introduced in the solute evolution equation to avoid
spurious solute trapping), and the variation of the solute diffusion
coefficient between phases, make it necessary to modify the equilibrium
distribution functions of the LB scheme with respect to the one used in the
standard method for the solution of advection-diffusion equations. The effects
of grid anisotropy are removed by using the lattices D3Q15 and D3Q19 instead of
D3Q7. The method is validated by direct comparison of the simulation results
with a numerical code that uses the finite-difference method. Simulations are
also carried out for two different anisotropy functions in order to demonstrate
the capability of the method to generate various crystal shapes
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Phase field approach to heterogeneous crystal nucleation in alloys
We extend the phase field model of heterogeneous crystal nucleation developed recently [L. Gránásy, T. Pusztai, D. Saylor, and J. A. Warren, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 035703 (2007)] to binary alloys. Three approaches are considered to incorporate foreign walls of tunable wetting properties into phase field simulations: a continuum realization of the classical spherical cap model (called Model A herein), a non-classical approach (Model B) that leads to ordering of the liquid at the wall, and to the appearance of a surface spinodal, and a non-classical model (Model C) that allows for the appearance of local states at the wall that are accessible in the bulk phases only via thermal fluctuations. We illustrate the potential of the presented phase field methods for describing complex polycrystalline solidification morphologies including the shish-kebab structure, columnar to equiaxed transition, and front-particle interaction in binary alloys
Sharp-Interface Limit of a Fluctuating Phase-Field Model
We present a derivation of the sharp-interface limit of a generic fluctuating
phase-field model for solidification. As a main result, we obtain a
sharp-interface projection which presents noise terms in both the diffusion
equation and in the moving boundary conditions. The presented procedure does
not rely on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and can therefore be applied
to account for both internal and external fluctuations in either variational or
non-variational phase-field formulations. In particular, it can be used to
introduce thermodynamical fluctuations in non-variational formulations of the
phase-field model, which permit to reach better computational efficiency and
provide more flexibility for describing some features of specific physical
situations. This opens the possibility of performing quantitative phase-field
simulations in crystal growth while accounting for the proper fluctuations of
the system.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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