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Simulation of Dendritic Solidification in Cubic and HCP Crystals by Cellular Automaton and Phase-Field Models

M. A. Zaeem[1], H. Yin[2], and S. D. Felicelli[3]
[1]Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, Mississippi State University, MS
[2]Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN
[3]Mechanical Engineering Department, Mississippi State University, MS
Published in 2011

A cellular automaton (CA)-finite element (FE) model and a phase field (PF)-FE model were used to simulate equiaxed dendritic growth during solidification of cubic and hexagonal crystals.

The governing equations of PF model include three coupled partial differential equations (PDE) for evolution of concentration, temperature, and non-conserved PF variable. These PDEs were solved using the mathematics module in COMSOL multiphysics software.

The validation of both models was performed by comparing the simulation results with the analytical model developed by Lipton-Glicksman- Kurz (LGK). Dendritic solidification in cubic and hexagonal materials are illustrated by simulating the solidification in aluminum alloy Al-3wt%Cu and magnesium alloy AZ91, respectively. Results show a better performance of PF-FE in modeling multiple arbitrarily-oriented dendrites in hexagonal systems.

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