Solidification Sheet

1. Name the two stages involved in the formation of particles of a new phase. Briefly describe
each.

2. (a) Rewrite the expression for the total free energy change for nucleation for the case of a
cubic nucleus of edge length “a” (instead of a sphere of radius “r” ). Now differentiate this
expression with respect to “a” and solve for both the critical cube edge length, a*, and also
∆G*.
(b) Is ∆G* greater for a cube or a sphere? Why?

3. If copper (which has a melting point of 1085°C) homogeneously nucleates at 849°C,

calculate the critical radius given values of -1.77x109 J/m3 and 0.200 J/m2, respectively, for
the latent heat of fusion and the surface free energy.

4. (a) For the solidification of iron, calculate the critical radius r* and the activation free energy
∆G* if nucleation is homogeneous. Values for the latent heat of fusion and surface free
energy are -1.85x109 J/m3 and 0.204 J/m2, respectively. Use the supercooling value of 295°C.
(b) Now calculate the number of atoms found in a nucleus of critical size. Assume a lattice
parameter of 0.292 nm for solid iron at its melting temperature.

5. Calculate the fraction of solidification that occurs dendritically when silver nucleates
(a) at 10°C undercooling;
(b) at 100°C undercooling; and
(c) homogeneously.
The specific heat of silver is 3.25 J/(cm3.°C).

6. Analysis of a nickel casting suggests that 28% of the solidification process occurred in a
dendritic manner. Calculate the temperature at which nucleation occurred. The specific heat
of nickel is 4.1 J/(cm3.°C).

7. Find the mold constant B and exponent n in Chvorinov’s rule using the following data and a
log–log plot.
8. A 2 in. cube solidifies in 4.6 min. Assume n = 2. Calculate (a) the mold constant in
Chvorinov’s rule and (b) the solidification time for a (0.5 in.× 0.5 in. × 6 in.) bar cast under
the same conditions.

9. A 5-cm-diameter sphere solidifies in 1050 s. Calculate the solidification time for a (0.3 cm ×
10 cm × 20 cm) plate cast under the same conditions. Assume that n = 2.

10. An aluminum alloy plate with dimensions (20 cm×10 cm×2 cm) needs to be cast with a
secondary dendrite arm spacing of 10-2 cm. What mold constant B is required (assume n =
2)?

11. Give the reason why:

a. During solidification, nucleated embryos that have a radius less than the critical radius
will melt again rather than growing.
b. As the melted metal temperature is decreasing below the solidification temperature, the
nucleation rate increases first but then decreases as the temperature continues to drop.
c. During solidification, heterogeneous nucleation requires much less undercooling than
homogeneous nucleation.
d. When solidification happens significantly below the equilibrium freezing temperature,
the resulting microstructure will consist of fine grains.
e. When solidification happens just below the equilibrium freezing temperature, the
resulting microstructure will consist of coarse grains.
f. Homogeneous nucleation does not usually happen in reality except in controlled
experiments.
g. During the growth stage of solidification, the initially small solid protuberance (bump)
continues to grow in the case of dendritic growth, while its growth stops in the case of
planar growth.