학술논문

Numerical Simulation of Solidified Structure Formation of Al-Si Alloy Casting Using Cellular Automaton Method
Document Type
Article
Source
Materials Science Forum; April 2008, Vol. 575 Issue: 1 p154-163, 10p
Subject
Language
ISSN
02555476; 16629752
Abstract
For the purpose of the prediction of casting structures, heterogeneous nucleation rate in the undercooled melt of solififying Al-Si alloys were evaluated by comparing experimentally observed macrostructures of solidified ingots with numerically simulated ones. Molten alloys were unidirectionally solidified in an adiabatic mold from a steel chill block located at the bottom of the mold. In the experiment, columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) was observed. A numerical simulation for grain structure formation of the sample ingots was carried out using a cellular automaton (CA) method, and heterogeneous nucleation rate in the solidifying alloys were evaluated by producing the similar structures to experimental ones. An attempt was made to predict the grain structure of conventionally cast ingots using the evaluated heterogeneous nucleation rate. However, the simulation could not predict the structure of ingot with low superheat due to crystal multiplication near the mold wall. The crystal multiplication mechanism, so-called "Big Bang mechanism", was introduced into the simulation and the simulation could predict the grain macrostructure composed of columnar and equiaxed crystals that were similar to experimentally observed one.