Early work on the origin of equiaxed grains

Chalmers (1963) - “Some would say that we will then be able to compute the alloy
composition and casting conditions that will give a specified structure, and,
therefore, any desired properties. I believe that this is an unrealistic prediction,
and that the practical problems are so complex that numerical predictions of
useful accuracy will never be possible”

In 1965 Jackson and Hunt introduced “transparent compounds that freeze like
metals”. They used these to study the origin of the equiaxed zone. They noted
that the roots of secondary dendrite arms have higher solute content than outer
portions of the arms. Here the melting point is lower and thermal fluctuations
cause local melting, providing dendritic fragments for the equiaxed zone. It
was shown that such remelting could also be caused by capillarity effects.

Southin (1967) suggested that nuclei form at the free surface of the casting and
shower down under gravity, growing as they descend ahead of the columnar
front.
The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 1
Advanced Materials Processing
 Comments on these phenomena
The early work can be viewed in context in the papers and documented
discussions of the Proceedings of the Conference on “The
Solidification of Metals”, Brighton, UK, December, 1967.

Increasing superheat will destroy small dendritic fragments from “big

bang” or dendrite detachment sources. The effect on grain refiners will
be much reduced.

In the absence of a chilled mould or grain refiner, equiaxed grain

formation can occur - see review by Flood and Hunt (1988). Here
dendrite detachment, with the assistance of melt convection, is the
likely source of nuclei.

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 2

Advanced Materials Processing
 Pause

Class Test No. 1

(Graded)
See problem sheet.

Calculations to be written out by hand, signed, dated, scanned/copied, and submitted via Brightspace.
Make sure your name and student number are clearly legible on your submission. Please keep your
original hand-written submission in case needed later.

Deadline: 11 pm on Monday (28th February).

Queries to the TA:

Daniel Dreelan

Email: daniel.dreelan@ucdconnect.ie
 Advanced Metals Processing
c. Lecture 4

Review of stability in directional alloy solidification; solid/liquid interface:

v C

solute pile-up

CET?

plane cell dendrite

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 4

Advanced Materials Processing
 The CET
In the undercooled liquid ahead of an advancing columnar front, heterogeneous nucleation and growth
of equiaxed grains can occur.
According to Flood and Hunt (1988), there are two modes of equiaxed growth
- grains in the bulk sediment, forming a pile at the base of a casting, impeding columnar growth
- equiaxed grains attach themselves to the columnar front and develop columnar characteristics :

Al-4%Si
sand casting

Kenny (1998)

S.C. Flood and J.D. Hunt,

"Columnar to Equiaxed Transition",
Metals Handbook, 9th edition, Vol, 15, Casting, ASM International, 1988

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 5

Advanced Materials Processing
The effect of chills

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 6

Advanced Materials Processing
 G and V
Equiaxed zone encouraged by low G
Convection - supplies nuclei and lowers G

DT ~ DTC high solute content

encourages equiaxed growth

Predictions of Hunt (1984) model of

columnar and equiaxed growth.

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 7

Advanced Materials Processing
 G and V
Equiaxed zone encouraged by low G
Convection - supplies nuclei and lowers G

DT ~ DTC high solute content

encourages equiaxed growth

Predictions of Hunt (1984) model of

columnar and equiaxed growth.
CE T

J.D. Hunt,
“Steady State Columnar Equiaxed Growth of Dendrites and Eutectic”,
Mater. Sci. Eng. 65 (1984) 75–83

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 8

Advanced Materials Processing
 G and V contd. Kurz and Fisher (1988)
Dendritic growth favoured by low
value of G/V.

GV ~ cooling rate.
Scale of microstructure decreases
as GV goes up.

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 9

Advanced Materials Processing
 The effects of fluid flow
• source of equiaxed nuclei
• lowers G - also favours equiaxed zone

Solutal effects
• minimal in the bulk since solute dose not diffuse far beyond dendrite
tips (Flemings, 1974).
• strong in the mushy zone behind dendrite tips macrosegregation

M.C. Flemings,
"Solidification Processing",
McGraw-Hill, NY, 1974

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 10

Advanced Materials Processing
 Progress in experimental methods
In 1965 Jackson and Hunt introduced, for the first time, “transparent compounds that freeze like metals”.
K.A Jackson and J.D. Hunt,
"Transparent compounds that freeze like metals",
Acta Met., 13, 1212-1215, 1965.

GT = 4.5 K/mm GT = 4.5 K/mm GT = 4.5 K/mm GT = 4.5 K/mm

V = 0.57 μm/s V = 2.00 μm/s V = 5.70 μm/s V = 7.60 μm/s

Directionally Solidified SCN-0.66wt%Salol Alloy

L. X. Liu and J. S. Kirkaldy, Acta Metall Mater, vol. 43, no. 8, pp. 2891–
2904, 1995.

Because these “analogue” alloys are transparent, they could be viewed and
filmed using optical microscopy. However modern X-ray optics enable real-
time videos of solidification of metallic alloys …
The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 11
Advanced Materials Processing
Free Growth (Equiaxed) Solidification

X-ray monitoring of solidification:

Al-20wt%Cu

Containing TiB2 grain refiner

Mechanical and Materials Engineering - Semester I

Effects of Gravity on Equiaxed Solidification

horizontal vertical
sample plane

X-ray monitoring of thin (220 µm) sample of Al-Cu alloy

The Columnar-Equiaxed Transition 13

Advanced Materials Processing
Maser-13 Sounding Rocket Mission:
Equiaxed Solidification

14
 Furnace for equiaxed solidification: XRMON-SOL

Lid XRMON-SOL
Microfocus X-ray
XRMON-SOL Source
Heater Glassy
Body Carbon FOV
Outer x-axis FOV
Ring Sample y-axis
Inner Disc
Ring
T6 T5 Sample
Pocket D
T2 w XRMON-SOL
T3 T1
X-ray Cone
T4
T7 T8 Scintillator/
CCD

X-ray
Camera

Murphy, A.G., et al.,

15
J. Cryst. Growth, 440, 2016, 38-46
 MASER 13: Payload

cone
MASM

System
Recovery
MEDI

BIM-3
CDIC-3

Cone
Nose
XRMON-SOL
N o s e

oad
Payl
MASER 13 Payload

B ooster
e2
Stag

oo ster
e1B
Stag
MASER 13 Launch Tower
Esrange, Sweden
MASER 13 Sounding Rocket

16