NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION ON METAL CASTING IN VERTICAL SOLIDIFICATION

The metals and alloys solidification can be defined as a transient heat transfer process. A liquid/solid transformation is followed by thermal energy liberation, with a movable boundary separating two phases with different thermophysical properties. The solidification is of great interest to mechanical and chemical engineers. It is a non-linear transient phenomenon, where heat transfer between the casting and the mold plays a important role. This paper aims to propose a study of heat flow from the casting to the mold using a numerical technique to compute the temperature history of all points inside the casting. The cooling process consists of water-cooled mold with heat being extracted only from the bottom, resulting in unidirectional vertical solidification. The ANSYS software was used to obtain the temperature distribution in the casting. Good agreement was obtained when the simulation results were compared with the experimental data.

The columnar to equiaxed transition in the directional solidification of aluminum based multicomponent alloys

In this work the columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) was experimentally investigated in the unidirectional solidification of three aluminum based multicomponent alloys (Al-nSi-3Cu), with "n" equal to 5.5, 7.5 and 9 wt.%. The main parameters analyzed include the tip temperature gradient (GL), tip growth rate (VL), tip cooling rate (TR) and Si content. A water-cooled solidification experimental setup was developed, and specimens were solidified under unsteady state heat flow conditions. It is shown that for the alloys examined, the solute concentration influences the position of the CET, which occurs for an average cooling rate of about 1.17 0C/s. A comparative analysis between the results of this work and those from literature proposed to analyze the CET during upward vertical solidification of Al-Si alloys is reported and the results show that the end of the columnar region is abbreviated as a result of seven times higher critical cooling rate than that verified for Al-Si alloys.

Numerical Study of a Vertical Solidification Process under Magnetic Field in Unsteady State

Numerical computation is achieved in an axisymmetric configuration to analyze the magnetic field effect on thermosolutal convection during vertical solidification of a binary alloy. The bath is exposed to a uniform temperature profile in unsteady state. During the growth three regions appear: liquid, mushy and solid zones. The mushy zone is assimilated to porous medium. A mathematical model of heat, momentum and solute transfer has been developed in primitive variables (pressure-velocity). A single domain approach (enthalpy method) is used to build the equations system. In this context, a computer code has been developed and validated with previous studies. The results in term of stream function and solute concentration show the strong effect of the magnetic field on the fluid flow and on the solutal stratification. The effects of magnetic field and melt convection intensity were demonstrated. The main results show that the quality of highly doped binary alloy crystals can be improved when the growth process occurs at low pulling rates and under a magnetic field.