j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmrt

Original Article

Comparative investigation on ingot evolution and

product quality under different arc distributions
during vacuum arc remelting process

Jiajun Cui a,b, Baokuan Li a,*, Zhongqiu Liu a,**, Fengsheng Qi a,

Jianxiang Xu a, Ji Zhang b
a
School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China
b
High Temperature Materials Division, China Iron and Steel Research Institute Group, Beijing, 100081, China

article info abstract

Article history: The arc characteristics especially the arc distribution of the vacuum arc remelting (VAR)
Received 27 February 2022 process are closely related to the ingot evolution and consequently the final product
Accepted 11 April 2022 quality. Taking segregation defects and solidification quality as the indexes to evaluate the
Available online 16 April 2022 final product quality under different arc distributions, a three-dimensional full-scale
transient model for predicting segregation defects is developed in this paper. Local solid-
Keywords: ification time (LST) and secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) are used to characterize the
Vacuum arc remelting solidification quality. This model is adopted to predict channel segregation (freckle) and
Arc distribution macrosegregation defects during VAR process of Ni-5.8 wt.%Al-15.2 wt.%Ta alloy under
Ni-based superalloy several typical arc distributions. The results show that the diffuse arc has the shallowest
Segregation defect molten pool among several arc distributions. At the early stage of solidification, the solute
Solidification quality enrichment channels formed under the Gaussian and diffuse arc are slender and
concentrated, while they are relatively sparse and uneven in thickness under the rotating
arc. The value of volume-averaged segregation extent is always the smallest under the
diffuse arc and the largest under the Gaussian arc, with final values of 67.53% and 69.66%,
respectively. The volume-averaged values of LST and SDAS are relatively the largest under
the Gaussian arc, about 1599 s and 209 mm, respectively; and they are the smallest under
the diffuse arc, about 1520 s and 206 mm, respectively. In the same process conditions, the
product quality of VAR ingots prepared under the diffuse arc is the best, followed by the
rotating arc, and the worst under the Gaussian arc.
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: libk@smm.neu.edu.cn (B. Li), liuzq@smm.neu.edu.cn (Z. Liu).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2022.04.058
2238-7854/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
3992 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6
1. Introduction
Vacuum arc remelting (VAR) is a clean technology for melting
metals under vacuum using the electric arc as heat source. As
the last segment of triple-melting process for high-end metal
alloys, VAR plays a decisive role in the quality of castings. As
shown in Fig. 1, the VAR process uses the plasma arc gener-
ated between the consumable electrode and the molten pool
to smelt the electrode. The electrode tip melts to form molten
droplets which fall into the water-cooled copper crucible and
then condense into the solid ingot [1]. In order to prevent the
liquid metal from reacting with the gas in the atmosphere at
high temperature, inert argon is usually used as a protective
gas. VAR process is widely used to produce nickel-based su-
peralloys [2], refractory titanium and zirconium alloys [3,4]
and special steels etc. However, there are still considerable
segregation defects such as channels (freckles) and macro-
segregation inside the castings produced by current VAR
process, which seriously affects the comprehensive perfor-
mance of castings and even leads to their outright scrap.
Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to
Fig. 1 e Schematic diagram of the VAR process.
explore how to suppress the segregation defect and thus
improve the product quality.
When the buoyancy force on the less density melt is
greater than the flow resistance between the dendrites, the
liquid column enriched with more solute is ejected upward
and eventually solidifies into freckles. In view of the solidifi-
cation defects existing in the castings produced by current
VAR process [5e7], some researchers have carried out relevant
investigations through experimental and numerical methods.
Yang et al. [7] study the macrosegregation of iron element
during the preparation of Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al alloy in VAR process,
and find that Lorentz force caused by external magnetic field
reduced the degree of macrosegregation by stirring the molten
pool. Wang et al. [8] explore the influence of process param-
eters on the formation of freckles by preparing VAR ingot of
Inconel 718, and the experimental results show that freckles
are more likely to appear in the center and middle radius of
the ingot when changing the electrode diameter and arc gap. It
should be noted that in recent years, some researchers have
developed and improved various mesoscale and microscale
models based on the theory of grain nucleation and dendrite
growth to predict the microstructure evolution, such as grain
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6
morphology, columnar-to-equiaxed transition, and further
reveal the formation mechanism of segregation defects in
VAR process [9e11]. Among them, Pericleous et al. [12]
establish a multiscale transient model including macroscopic
computational fluid dynamics model and microscopic solidi-
fication model to predict the formation of freckles and white
spots under offset rotating arc. Although this model further
reveals the formation mechanism of freckles at the micro-
level, it does not fully show the solute redistribution and
consider the effect of the crucible on the electromagnetic field
distribution inside the ingot.
At present, a large quantity of plant practices have proved
that arc characteristics are responsible to the formation of de-
fects inside the superalloy ingots [13]. Arc characteristics
include arc gap length, arc power and distribution form, and
relevant studies have been conducted by researchers. Delzant
et al. [14] discuss in detail the heat radiation intensity at the top
of the ingot in the VAR process, and the results show that it is
closely related to the arc gap length and electrode radius rather
than the electrode height. Zagrebelnyy et al. [15] investigate the
effect of arc power on segregation during multiple VAR process
for alloy preparation, and found that higher arc power will lead
to more severe macrosegregation. However, the random freckle
defects cannot be predicted only by simple axisymmetric
model. Sibaki et al. [16] elaborate the effect of arc radius and
side arc on the solidification of VAR process and found that the
molten pool will become significantly shallower with the in-
crease of both factors. Based on the measured information of
plasma arc, Cibula et al. [17] apply a transverse magnetic field
externally to control the arc distribution in the VAR furnace, so
that the corrected arc distribution is conducive to improve the
quality of castings. Motley et al. [18] measure typical arc dis-
tributions in the VAR furnace, which provides appropriate
boundary conditions for simulation. Besides, the effect of arc
distribution on the solidification dynamics parameters such as
Rayleigh number and local solidification time is explained in
detail. Similarly, it cannot predict the three-dimensional reality
since it adopts a two-dimensional axisymmetric model. Yuan
et al. [19] take the Rayleigh number as the index for judging the
segregation defects inside the ingot and find that convergent
arc distribution provides nearly 300 times more thermal
perturbation than the static Gaussian distribution. The
research work of Mitchell et al. [20] shows that changing heat
Fig. 2 e Coupling relationships for multiple physical fields during VAR process.
3993
flux from Gaussian distribution to circular distribution may
affect the solidification angle and thus the final quality of in-
gots. Shevchenko et al. [21] determined the relevant time period
corresponding to the influence of arc offset on the ingot by
comparing the situation under steady axisymmetric and tran-
sient asymmetric arc distribution. Although the previous
studies clarify the influence of arc distribution on solidification
dynamics, there is still a lack of direct prediction of various
segregation defects under different arc distributions.
In order to comprehensively explore the influence of arc
distribution on the ingot evolution and consequently the
product quality during VAR process, while seeking suitable
process parameters for actual production, a three-
dimensional full-scale transient model for predicting segre-
gation defects is developed in this paper. The formation and
development of channel segregation and macrosegregation
defects are predicted under different arc distributions.
Comparing the values of local solidification time (LST) and
secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) under each arc dis-
tribution to characterize the solidification quality, the ingot
evolution process and final product quality are evaluated by
synthesizing both the segregation defects and the solidifica-
tion quality.
2. Model description
2.1. Governing equations
In this paper, a three-dimensional full-scale transient model
of the VAR process is developed, in which the water-cooled
copper crucible is included in the computational domain to
take into account its effect on the electromagnetic field inside
the ingot. The multi-field coupling relationships involved in
VAR process are as shown in Fig. 2. What's more, the finite
volume method is adopted to realize the coupled solution of
conservation equations for the electromagnetic field, fluid
flow, temperature and solute distribution. The relevant details
in the model are considered as follows.
(1) Electromagnetic field. During the VAR process, the
interaction between the electric current and the mag-
netic field induced inside the ingot generates the
3994 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6

Lorentz force, as well as the Joule heat. Based on the
potential method (Ae4), the electromagnetic physical
quantities are solved to describe the above electro-
magnetic phenomena [22]. The obtained Lorentz force
and Joule heat are introduced as source terms into the
momentum and energy conservation equations,
respectively.
(2) Fluid flow. The continuity equation and Navier-Stokes
equation are used to calculate the melt flow driven by
thermosolutal buoyancy and Lorentz force. The
behavior of the liquid metal pool is either turbulent or in
a transition from laminar to turbulent flow during VAR
process [21]. Therefore, the RNG keε model is employed
to describe this flow phenomena due to its superiority in
capturing low Reynolds number flow and near-wall
flow. The density keeps constant except in the buoy-
ancy term of the momentum equations which adopts
the Boussinesq approximation.
(3) Heat transfer and solidification. The temperature dis-
tribution of the VAR process is obtained by solving the
energy conservation equation in terms of temperature.
The solidification process of the ingot is calculated by
enthalpy-porosity method. The mushy zone is consid-
ered as a porous medium, where the permeability is
described by the Kozeny-Carman equation.
(4) Solute redistribution. The solute conservation equation
is employed to describe the solute redistribution during
the solidification process. The relationship between the
composition and temperature for a continuous medium
is established by the phase diagram method and solved
by Scheil microsegregation model.
(5) Supplementary equations. In order to close the gov-
erning equations for their coupled solution, the rela-
tionship between the liquid fraction and solute
concentration needs to be supplemented. In order to
fully take into account the effect of each component on
the solidification process, the phase diagram is modified
by the equilibrium partition coefficient and the slope of
liquidus line. All the relevant equations above are
shown in Table 1 [23e27].

Table 1 e Governing equations in this model.

Governing equation Symbols
(1) Electromagnetic field
V2 4 ¼ 0 electric potential (4)
! ! !
V2 A ¼  m0 J magnetic vector potential ( A )
! magnetic permeability of vacuum (m0 )
J ¼ sV4
! ! !
B ¼ V A current density ( J )
(2) Fluid flow electric conductivity (s)
!
vr magnetic flux density ( B )
þ V,ðr!uÞ ¼ 0 !
vt Lorentz force ( F l )
vðr!uÞ ! ! !
þ V,ðr!u!u Þ ¼  Vp þ mV2 ! u þ Fb þ Fd þ Fl density (r)
vt " # time (t)
! P
F b ¼ r!g bT ðT  Tref Þ þ biC ðCil  Cil;ref Þ velocity (!
u)
i
pressure (p)
!
Fd ¼  !
m
u dynamic viscosity (m)
K !
d 2
fl3 thermosolutal buoyancy ( F b )
K ¼ , !
180 ð1  fl Þ2 Darcy's resistance ( F d )
8
<0 T  Tsol temperature (T)
fl ¼ ðT  Tsol Þ=ðTliq  Tsol Þ Tsol < T  Tliq solute concentration (C)
:1 T > Tliq thermal expansion coefficient (bT)
! ! !
Fl ¼ J  B solutal expansion coefficient (bC)
(3) Heat transfer and solidification permeability of mushy zone (K)
v  l  rL vf secondary dendrite arm spacing (d)
ðrTÞ þ V,ðr!
s
u TÞ ¼ V, VT þ þ qJoule
vt cp cp vt volume fraction ( f )
fs ¼ 1  fl thermal conductivity (l)
qJoule ¼ J2 =s specific heat capacity (cp)
(4) Solute redistribution latent heat (L)
v Joule heating (qJoule) solute diffusion coefficient in the liquid phase (D)
ðrCi Þ þ V,ðr!
u Ci Þ ¼ V,ðrDVCi Þþ liquidus slope (m)
vt
V,½rDVðCi  Ci Þ  V,½rðCi  Ci Þ!
l l u melting temperature (Tm)
(5) Supplementary equation equilibrium partition coefficient (kp)
superscript& subscript
Tliq ¼ mliq ,C þ Tm
Pn i l represents the liquid phase
C ¼ i¼1 C
Pn s represents the solid phase
i¼1 ðmliq C Þ
i i
liq represents the liquidus
mliq ¼
C sol represents the solidus
Pn
i¼1 ðkp mliq C Þ
i i i
ref is the reference value
kp ¼ Pn
i¼1 ðmliq C Þ
i i i represents each component
1 T  Tliq d represents the average
fs ¼
1  kp T  Tm
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6 3995

Table 2 e Physical properties used for simulation.

Parameters Value Parameters Value
Density, r/kg$m3 7365 Equilibrium partition coefficient, kTa 0.48
Specific heat, cp/J$kg1$K1 660 Solutal expansion coefficient, 2.26  102
1
bAl
C /(wt.%)
Thermal conductivity, 18(600 K), 20(800 K), Solutal expansion coefficient, 3.82  103
l/W$m1$K1 23(1000 K), 26(1200 K), bTa
C /(wt.%)
1

29(1400 K), 33(1600 K),

41(1800K), 45(2000K)
Dynamic viscosity, 4.9  103 Reference temperature, Tref/K 1685
m/kg$m1$s1
Solutal diffusivity, D/m2$s1 5  109 Eutectic mass fraction, CAl
e /%
37.5
1
Latent heat, L/J$kg 2.9  105 Eutectic mass fraction, CTa
e /%
76.1
Thermal expansion coefficient, 1.2  104 Eutectic temperature, Te/K 1560
bT/K1
Slope of liquidus, mAl/K$(wt.%)1 5.17 Melting temperature, Tm/K 1754
Slope of liquidus, mTa/K$(wt.%)1 2.55 Electric conductivity, 7.3  105
s/U1$m1
Equilibrium partition coefficient, kAl 0.54 Magnetic permeability, 1.26  106
m/H$m1

2.2. Evaluation of solidification quality Tliq  Tsol

The solidification quality of an ingot mainly depends on the
LST, which represents the time required from the start to the
end of solidification [28]. The shorter LST leads to the less
chance of formation of various solidification defects, and thus
the better solidification quality of the ingots. In addition, LST
is more valuable than molten pool shape from the perspective
of micro-level prediction, which cannot be obtained through
experiments [29]. In this study, the continuous growth of the
ingot during VAR process is simulated using the dynamic grid
technique. The time interval between the alloy reaching the
liquidus temperature and solidus temperature in each grid is
recorded as the LST distribution:
LST ¼ tsol  tliq
where tliq, tsol are the time when the alloy in each grid reaches
the liquidus temperature and solidus temperature,
respectively.
Secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) is an important
index to measure the microsegregation inside the ingot.
Reducing the SDAS can effectively suppress the solute segre-
gation and improve the comprehensive performance of in-
gots. It can be derived from LST as follows:
SDAS ¼ bRn
R¼ (3)
LST
where R is the local cooling rate; b and n are constants related
to the alloy type, which are taken as 80 and 0.33 respectively
[30].
3. Numerical details
3.1. Physical properties and process parameters
In this paper, Ni-5.8 wt.%Al-15.2 wt.%Ta ternary alloy is
selected to study the VAR process, which always serves as a
superalloy example at the present simulation level. Thermo-
physical properties of this alloy are shown in Table 2 [31],
(1)
where the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity is
calculated using JMatPro software. The main process param-
eters during VAR process are shown in Table 3 [32].
In this paper, three stages of the VAR process are consid-
ered, namely the stable melting, the hot topping and the final
solidification, as shown in Fig. 3. During the stable melting
stage, the main process parameters such as current and
melting rate are kept nominal and constant to smelt most of
the electrode. Subsequently, the melting current decreases
gradually and the electrode slowly smelts to completion in the
(2) hot topping stage. Therefore, the temperature of molten pool

Table 3 e Major process parameters during VAR process.

Parameters Value Parameters Value
Ingot radius, Ri/mm 254 Droplet temperature, Tdrop/K 1823
Electrode radius, R0/mm 215 Proportion of Iingot, hI 0.7
Arc focus, Ra/mm 178 Power efficiency, hp 0.75
Volts, U/V 23 Heat transfer coefficient, h(T)/W$m2$K1 20(300 K), 40(1000 K),
100(1400 K), 300(1580 K),
1000(1620 K), 2000(1700 K)
Ingot growth rate, 4.02  105 Wall thickness of crucible, d0/mm 30
V0/m$s1
Initial electrode temperature, T0/K 300 Temperature of crucible wall, Twall/K 400
3996 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6

The lower temperature region at the side of the ingot

gradually separates from the crucible wall and thus the
shrinkage gap forms during solidification. For the electrical
boundary, the length of shrinkage gap will increase from the
initial length of 0.12 m, while the length of upper contact area
remains constant as the ingot grows. This method is accord-
ing to the literature [33], which is close to the reality. Both the
electric potential at the crucible top and the current density at
the shrinkage gap are set to zero. The contact area and ingot
bottom are set as the electric coupled boundary. Furthermore,
the solution of magnetic vector potential adopts coupled
boundary at the interior face and zero flux at the external
boundary. The distribution of current density at the ingot top
under different arc distributions is shown in Fig. 5. Under the
rotating arc, the arc center kept 100 mm away from the
centerline rotates counterclockwise with a period of 24 s [12].
Fig. 3 e Changes of main process parameters during VAR The electric current density as a function of local distance
process. from the arc center (r) at the ingot top surface is as follows:
8 !
>
> r2
>
> I exp 
>
> ingot
R2a
also decreases so as to compensate the shrinkage of solidified >
>
>
> ! ; Gaussian and rotating arc
materials. After the hot topping, the final solidification stage is < Z Ri
r2
JðrÞ ¼ 2pr exp  2 dr
that the molten pool surface begins to radiate outward until >
> Ra
>
>
0
the ingot is completely solidified. >
>
>
> Iingot
>
> ;
: diffuse arc
pR2i
3.2. Boundary conditions and solution method
(4)
The dripping of molten droplets melted by the consumable where Iingot is the main arc current that flows through the
electrode contributes to the continuous growth of the ingot ingot top back to the consumable electrode, accounting for hI
inside the crucible. Based on the dynamic grid technique, the in the total current Itotal; Ri is the radius of the ingot; Ra is the
ingot rises from the initial height of 0.2 m to the final height of effective radius of the arc.
0.5 m during the remelting process. Figure 4 shows the For the thermal boundary, if the temperature of ingot wall
boundary conditions in the computational domain including is lower than the critical temperature (30 K lower than the
both the ingot and crucible. The current input position is at solidus temperature), the shrinkage gap is considered to have
the crucible top instead of the contact area commonly used in formed [33]. Tside is the temperature of ingot wall, Tbot is the
previous simulations, which is consistent with the actual VAR temperature of ingot bottom. In the shrinkage gap, the ingot
process and improves the accuracy of simulation results. No- radiates outward to the crucible, where the emissivity of the
slip boundary is applied at the interface of ingot and crucible, ingot is ε ¼ 0.9, Stefan Boltzmann constant ss ¼ 5.67  108.
and there is no solute exchange at both sides of the boundary. The equivalent heat transfer coefficients h(T) at the contact
The molten droplets dripping from the electrode are treated area and ingot bottom is shown in Table 2.
by adding equivalent mass to the pool surface in each time In the VAR process, the effective electric power accounting
step. for hp of the total power includes the heat upward to the

Fig. 4 e Schematic diagram of boundary conditions used in calculation.

 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6 3997

consumable electrode and downward to the molten pool by iterations in each time step. The calculations in this paper are
the arc. The former is mostly converted into the heat Qdrop performed in parallel on an Intel Xeon Gold 6240 CPU (36C/
carried by the droplets falling into the molten pool, which 72 T, 2.6 GHz) and take about two weeks per case.
consists of the heat absorbed by the droplets from heating to
dripping and the latent heat of the droplets. The Qdrop is added
uniformly to the molten pool surface in each time step, and 4. Results and discussion
the heat flux contributed by it at the ingot top is as follows:
  4.1. Model validation
Qdrop cp mdrop Tdrop  T0 þ mdrop L
qdrop ¼ ¼ (5)
pR2i pR2i The grid independence test is performed using around 0.3
where mdrop is the melting rate of the electrode, Tdrop is the million, 0.6 million and 0.9 million cells (N1, N2 and N3) to
dripping temperature of the droplets, T0 is the initial tem- simulate the VAR process under diffuse arc distribution
perature of the electrode, L is the latent heat. respectively. A certain moment (3000 s) is selected to
The heat flux at the ingot top contributed by the Qarc compare the temperature distribution at the centerline of the
radiated by the arc to the molten pool surface is also shown in ingot, as shown in Fig. 6. The predicted temperature in the
Fig. 5 as the following equation: upper region of the centerline at the N1 grid number has a
8 certain deviation from that at the N2 and N3 grid numbers. In
!
>
> r2 addition, the finer N3 grid has little effect on the numerical
>
> Qarc exp  2
>
> results. Therefore, the N2 grid number is sufficient to provide
>
> Ra
>
> ! ; Gaussian and rotating arc
< Z Ri accurate results, which is employed in the following
r2
qarc ðrÞ ¼ 2pr exp  2 dr simulations.
>
> Ra
>
>
0
>
> There are few relevant studies taking into account the so-
>
> Qarc
>
> ; lute redistribution during the VAR process so far. In the cir-
: diffuse arc
pR2i cumstances, the electromagnetic field model in this paper is
(6) verified by Literature [16] which only investigates the molten
After the hot topping, the molten pool surface begins to pool shape and flow pattern instead of considering the effect
radiate outward and its heat flux is: of macroscopic solute transport. The models to solve the flow
field, temperature and solute distribution are verified by the
 
qrad ¼ εss T4top  T4e (7) Literature [34,35], where the same models are adopted to
simulate the solidification process of Sn-5 wt.%Pb alloy
where Ttop is the temperature of molten pool surface, Te is the without the effect of the electromagnetic field. The variation
ambient temperature. of Lorentz force with arc radius inside the ingot when the side-
The governing equations for the electric potential 4 and the arc current accounts for 50% of total in Literature [16] is
!
magnetic vector potential A are determined according to the calculated by using the electromagnetic field model in this
UDS (user-defined scalar) rules in ANSYS Fluent. The second- paper, in which the settings of various parameters are
order upwind scheme is applied to discretize the corre- consistent with that in this literature. As shown in Fig. 7, it can
sponding equations and the SIMPLEC algorithm deals with the be found that the Lorentz force distributions obtained in this
coupling of pressure and velocity. Based on the finite volume paper are in good agreement with those in the literature at
method (FVM), the coupling solution of governing equations is different arc radius, thus verifying the reliability of electro-
realized. The computational time step used for the simulation magnetic field model.
is 0.01 s. In order to ensure the numerical accuracy, the
convergence criterion is set to 106 with a maximum of 20

Flux density
Gaussian
rotating
diffuse

0 Radial position

Fig. 5 e Schematic diagram of electrical and thermal

boundaries at the top surface of the ingot. Fig. 6 e Grid independence verification.
3998 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6
Fig. 7 e Predicted distribution of Lorentz force under different arc radius from this paper (left half) and the Literature [16]
(right half): the ratio of arc radius to ingot radius is (a) 0.5; (b) 0.6; (c) 0.7.
The relative segregation degree (Crelative) is defined to
evaluate the local degree of solute segregation inside the
ingot, as shown below.
C  C0
Crelative ¼  100%
C0
Using the models to solve the flow field, temperature and
solute distribution in this paper, the benchmark case of lateral
solidification process for Sn-5 wt.%Pb alloy in a square cavity
is performed, and the calculated results of Crelative are
compared with those in the Literature [34e36], as shown in
Fig. 8. The fluid in the square cavity will move downward
under the effect of thermosolutal convection, resulting in
solute enrichment at the bottom and solute scarcity at the top.
The overall distribution of Crelative in Fig. 8a confirms this
analysis, which is basically consistent with its distribution in
the literature. After solidification, the horizontal straight line
at a height of 25 mm from the bottom of the cavity is inter-
cepted. Figure 8c shows the comparison of calculated results
and experimental results at this line in this paper and relevant
literatures. As shown in this figure, the middle and later sec-
tion along the solidification direction in the lower part of the
cavity in shows severe positive segregation, while the solute is
seriously enriched at the end of solidification. The result
calculated by this model is generally consistent with the
predicted result in the Literature [34] and follows the same
trend as the experimental data of Hebditch et al. [36]. In
summary, the prediction model for segregation defects during
the VAR process developed in this paper is believable.
4.2. Electromagnetic field distribution
The copper crucible is included in the computational domain
to treat the electricity feeding at the crucible top during
(8) actual VAR process. Due to little change of the electromag-
netic field distribution, a moment (3000 s) is selected to show
it inside the ingot under different arc distributions, as shown
in Figs. 9 and 10. It can be seen from Fig. 9 that the minimal
values of current density under each arc distribution are all
located near the shrinkage gap, which is mainly due to the
fact that no current passes through it. Most of the current
enters the ingot through the contact area, and a few flows
through the ingot bottom, while both paths rarely pass near
the shrinkage gap. The current density under the rotating arc
appears to be significantly asymmetric, corresponding to the
location of arc center. The maximum value of current density
inside the ingot is located at the center of ingot top under the
Gaussian arc, while it appears at the side of ingot top near the
contact area under the diffuse arc. This paper adopts the
constant electric conductivity of the ingot and crucible,
where the current density distribution can reflect the Joule
heat distribution.
From Fig. 10, the Lorentz force in the synthesis direction of
horizontal outward and vertical downward under each dis-
tribution is mainly concentrated near the contact area. How-
ever, the Lorentz force at most areas inside the ingot is
relatively small, and its direction is the synthesis of horizontal
inward and vertical downward. Due to the asymmetric dis-
tribution of current density under the rotating arc, the Lorentz
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6 3999

Fig. 8 e Crelative in the cavity at 400 s obtained from (a) this paper and (b) the literatures [34]; (c) Crelative at 25 mm from the
bottom of the cavity after solidification.

force distribution inside the ingot also shows obvious
asymmetry.
4.3. Segregation defects
Figure 11 shows the temperature distribution inside the ingot
obtained at the middle and late stages of solidification (6000 s)
under different arc distributions, in which both liquid fraction
contours fl ¼ 0.05 and fl ¼ 0.9 represent the solidus and
liquidus, respectively. As the solute enrichment during so-
lidification leads to the gradual close of solidus and liquidus
temperature, the width of mushy zone is smaller at this time.
The different heat input under each arc distribution signifi-
cantly affects the molten pool shape, and the diffuse arc has
the shallowest molten pool.
The middle and upper part (Z ¼ 0.3 m) and near the top
(Z ¼ 0.4 m) of the longitudinal section X ¼ 0 are selected to
observe the temperature gradient distribution, as shown in

Fig. 9 e The current density distribution during VAR process: (a) Gaussian arc; (b) rotating arc; (c) diffuse arc.
4000 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6

Fig. 10 e The Lorentz force distribution during VAR process: (a) Gaussian arc; (b) rotating arc; (c) diffuse arc.

Fig. 12. In the middle and late stages of solidification (6000 s),
the influence of heat input from the ingot top gradually
spreads downward, and the temperature gradient in the
center of the ingot under each arc distribution is significantly
different. In the upper part of the ingot, the temperature
gradient is the smallest in the near-wall region and the largest
in the center under the diffuse arc. This is due to the fact that
the diffuse arc has a uniform heat input at the ingot top, and
thus its heat input is less in the central region compared to
Gaussian and rotating arc, while the opposite is true in the

Fig. 11 e Temperature distribution inside the ingot at solidification time t ¼ 6000 s: (a) Gaussian arc; (b) rotating arc; (c)
diffuse arc.

Fig. 12 e Temperature gradient at specific heights in the longitudinal section X ¼ 0 at solidification time t ¼ 6000 s: (a)
Z ¼ 0.3 m; (b) Z ¼ 0.4 m.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6
near-wall region. Therefore, the temperature change will be
very intense under the diffuse arc when the effect of side
cooling deeps into the central region. In the near-wall region,
the higher heat input at the top under the diffuse arc con-
tributes to the slower cooling rate and consequently the
smaller temperature gradient. There is an overall increase of
the temperature gradient near the top compared to the middle
and upper, where the temperature gradient under the diffuse
arc is the smallest.
The solute redistribution inside the ingot under each arc
distribution is observed at the early stage (3000 s) and the end
of solidification, as shown in Fig. 13. Since the equilibrium
partition coefficients of both Al and Ta are less than 1, the
concentration distribution trends of both solutes are similar
and so only the Al concentration is shown. From the flow field
in Fig. 13, it can be seen that the complex flow with multiple
vortices appears in the liquid region under each arc distribu-
tion. Some literature has only studied the influence of thermal
buoyancy on the molten pool shape and flow pattern, thus the
obtained flow fields are mostly in the form of simple clockwise
or counterclockwise vortices. Based on previous studies, this
paper takes into account the effect of solutal buoyancy on the
flow pattern and the segregation behavior during the VAR
process. The solute buoyancy is caused by the density differ-
ence due to inhomogeneous solute distribution. When the
solute distribution form is more complex, the solute buoyancy
is correspondingly more different at each place, and thus the
flow behaves as complex multiple vortices. From Fig. 10, it can
be seen that the Lorentz force has a weak influence on the
Fig. 13 e Streamlines and solute distribution inside the ingot: (a) Gaussian arc at 3000 s; (b) rotating arc at 3000 s; (c) diffuse
arc at 3000 s; (d) Gaussian arc after solidification; (e) rotating arc after solidification; (f) diffuse arc after solidification.
4001
fluid flow in most areas of the ingot. As a result, the solute
enrichment channels in the middle and lower part of the ingot
are formed mainly due to the effect of thermosolutal
buoyancy.
The molten pool shape is approximately the same under
each arc distribution at the early stage of solidification, which
is due to the relatively small effect of the heat input at the top
on the lower area inside the ingot. At this moment, the molten
pool shape mainly depends on the cooling effect at the side
and bottom of the ingot. The initial stage of solidification is all
mainly channel-type solute enrichment under each arc dis-
tribution. What's more, the channels under the Gaussian and
diffuse arcs are slender and concentrated, while they are
relatively sparse and uneven in thickness under the rotating
arc. The heat input can be relatively continuous and stable
from the ingot top into the molten pool accompanied by the
basically constant electromagnetic field distribution under
Gaussian and diffuse arcs. Instead, the real-time movement of
the arc center leads to the continuous change of the electric
and heat input under the rotating arc, and thus the channel
shape shows a certain randomness. As the ingot grows, a
large-scale solute enrichment in the central region of the
ingot, that is, macrosegregation. After the hot topping, it is
considered that the consumable electrode has been melted,
and then the top of the molten pool begins to radiate heat
outward until the ingot is completely solidified.
It can be seen from Fig. 13 that the solute distribution in-
side the ingot can be divided into three regions after solidifi-
cation under each arc distribution. Region 1 is the channel-
4002 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6

75.0 electric and heat input is more uniform than that of the
Gaussian arc, and thus the overall degree of solute segregation
72.5 Gaussian
rotating
inside the ingot is relatively low.
70.0 diffuse In order to show more intuitively the solute segregation
inside the ingot after solidification, the range of segregation
67.5
degree is divided into three segments as shown in Fig. 15,
57.0
which are respectively defined as Area1 with weak segrega-
Svol, %

65.0
56.5
tion (|Crelative|<20), Area2 with strong segregation (20<|Crelative|
62.5 56.0
<100) and Area 3 with severe segregation (|Crelative|>100).
55.5
60.0
Figure 15 shows the volume size contained in each segment
55.0
under different arcs, in which the volume size of Area3 under
54.5
57.5 each arc distribution is basically identical. Besides, it has the
54.0
largest volume size of Area1 and the smallest volume size of
55.0 53.5
5000 5050 5100 5150 5200 5250 5300 Area2 under the diffuse arc. Due to the uniform electric cur-
52.5 rent and heat flux imposed on the ingot top under the diffuse
5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000
arc, the upper part of the molten pool is relatively stable, so
Solidification time, s
the local convection and then the local segregation degree are
Fig. 14 e Variation of Svol during solidification process relatively weak. Therefore, the Area1 with weak segregation
under each arc distribution. under the diffuse arc accounts for a greater proportion than
that under the other two arc distributions, while the Area2
with strong segregation is the opposite. The volume size of
type solute enrichment area formed in the lower part of the
Area1 under the rotating arc is slightly larger than that of the
ingot at the early stage of solidification. Region 2 is the mac-
Gaussian arc while the opposite is true for Area2, which in-
rosegregation area formed at the middle stage of solidifica-
dicates that the overall degree of solute segregation under the
tion, in which the degree of segregation under the diffuse arc
Gaussian arc is slightly stronger than that under the rotating
is the weakest. Region 3 is also the macrosegregation area
arc.
caused by the downward solidification from the top of the
molten pool after hot topping, which is less segregated than
4.4. Solidification quality
Region 2 and has the weakest degree of segregation under the
diffuse arc. It can be found that the solute in the middle and
In order to further show the influence of arc distribution on
upper part of the ingot is mainly concentrated in the central
the castings, local solidification time (LST) and secondary
macrosegregation area (Regions 2 and 3), while the near-wall
dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) are selected to characterize the
region shows negative segregation. The large downward
solidification quality during VAR process. Figure 16 shows
component of Lorentz force dominates the flow pattern near
the predicted distribution of LST inside the ingot after so-
the side wall, so it is difficult to form upward jets and thus
lidification under different arc distributions. As shown in the
solute enrichment channels. A significant portion of the so-
figure, the LST is all relatively small near the side and bottom
lute in this area will supplement the flow in the nearby
cooling boundary. Since the top of the ingot begins to radiate
channels, resulting in negative segregation near the side of
outward after the electrode is completely melted, the LST
the ingot. That's why the 1/4 radius area of the ingot near the
side is more likely to form localized solute enrichment chan-
nels as shown in the figure.
45
In order to evaluate the overall degree of solute segrega-
tion, the volume-averaged segregation extent (Svol) is defined 40
Gaussian rotating diffuse
as follows:
Corresponding volume, ×10-6 m3

35
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
P
ðC  C0 Þ2 dV 100%
Svol ¼ P  (9) 30
dV C0
25
where C0 is the initial solute concentration, C is the solute
concentration on each grid, dV is the volume of each grid. 20
Figure 14 shows the variation of Svol during solidification
under each arc distribution, which can be seen that Svol 15
gradually increases during the stable melting stage. In addi-
10
tion, Svol slowly decreases when the electrode is completely
melted and the top of the molten pool starts to solidify. During 5
the solidification process, the Svol is always the smallest under
the diffuse arc and the largest under the Gaussian arc, with 0
Area1 Area2 Area3
final values of 67.53% and 69.66%, respectively. The center of
the rotating arc always rotates around the axis of the ingot Fig. 15 e Corresponding volume of each range of Crelative
before the end of hot topping, so the overall distribution of the under each arc distribution after solidification.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6 4003

Fig. 16 e Predicted distribution of LST inside the ingot after solidification: (a) Gaussian arc; (b) rotating arc; (c) diffuse arc.

near this area is also small. Although the upper part of the
side starts to cool earlier, this area takes a long time to
complete solidification due to the continuous heat input at
the top, which contributes to larger LST. In addition, the LST
of the macrosegregation region in the middle and upper part
of the ingot is all relatively large under three distributions. As
shown in Fig. 16, the LST in the large-scale macrosegregation
area at the center under the diffuse arc is smaller than that
under the Gaussian and rotating arc. After solidification, two
heights in the middle (Z ¼ 0.3 m) and upper (Z ¼ 0.4 m) part of
the ingot are selected to observe the radial distribution of the
LST in section X ¼ 0, as shown in Fig. 17. It can be seen there
is little difference between the LST of Gaussian and diffuse
arcs in the middle part near the side wall, while the LST is
relatively small in this area under the rotating arc. In a large
area of the ingot center, the LST under the diffuse arc is
obviously smaller than the LST under the other two arcs. It
should be noted that the distribution pattern of LST in the
upper part is basically consistent with that in the middle
part.
As depicted in Fig. 18, since SDAS is positively correlated
with LST (see Equations (2) and (3)), the distribution of SDAS
inside the ingot is similar to that of LST. The values of them
are all quite small near the side, bottom and top areas of the
ingot, while relatively large at the top of the side wall. The
SDAS in the large-scale macrosegregation area at the center
under the diffuse arc is smaller than that under the other two
arcs. Figure 19 shows the radial distribution of the SDAS at
different heights in section X ¼ 0. As shown in the figure, the
SDAS in most of the area under the diffuse arc is relatively
small in the middle of the ingot, as well as in the upper part.
In order to further compare the solidification quality under
different arc distributions, LST_ave and SDAS_ave are defined
to respectively represent the volume-averaged values of the
LST and SDAS inside the ingot after solidification, as follows:
P
ðLST,dVÞ
LST ave ¼ P (10)
dV
P
ðSDAS,dVÞ
SDAS ave ¼ P (11)
dV

Fig. 17 e Predicted distribution of LST at specific heights in the longitudinal section X ¼ 0 after solidification: (a) Z ¼ 0.3 m; (b)
Z ¼ 0.4 m.
4004 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6

Fig. 18 e Predicted distribution of SDAS inside the ingot after solidification: (a) Gaussian arc; (b) rotating arc; (c) diffuse arc.

Fig. 19 e Predicted distribution of SDAS at specific heights in the longitudinal section X ¼ 0 after solidification: (a) Z ¼ 0.3 m;
(b) Z ¼ 0.4 m.

As shown in Fig. 20, LST_ave and SDAS_ave have the
same varying trend. What's more, both of them are rela-
tively the largest under the Gaussian arc, about 1599 s and
209 mm, respectively; and they are the smallest under the
diffuse arc, about 1520 s and 206 mm, respectively. Consid-
ering both aspects of segregation defect and solidification
quality, it can be concluded that the product quality of VAR
ingots prepared under the diffuse arc is the best, followed by
the rotating arc, and the worst under the Gaussian arc.
Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the arc distribution to
make it close to the diffuse arc in the VAR furnace, so as to
supply uniform heat input to the molten pool. If so, then
more stable solidification process and thus higher product
quality can be achieved.

5. Conclusions

In response to the incomplete comparative studies on the VAR

Fig. 20 e The values of LST_ave and SDAS_ave under each
arc distribution after solidification.
process under different arc distributions, this paper develops
a three-dimensional full-scale transient model for predicting
segregation defects, in which the crucible is incorporated into
the computational domain to obtain a more realistic electro-
magnetic field distribution inside the ingot. The formation and
development of channel segregation and macrosegregation
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 8 : 3 9 9 1 e4 0 0 6
defects during VAR process of Ni-5.8 wt.%Al-15.2 wt.%Ta alloy
are predicted under different arc distributions. Furthermore,
the values of LST and SDAS are compared to evaluate the
solidification quality of the ingots. The main conclusions are
as follows.
(1) The diffuse arc has the shallowest molten pool among
three arc distributions. In the upper part of the ingot,
the temperature gradient is the smallest in the near-
wall region and the largest in the center under the
diffuse arc.
(2) The initial stage of solidification is all mainly channel-
type solute enrichment under each arc distribution.
What's more, the channels under the Gaussian and
diffuse arcs are slender and concentrated, while they
are relatively sparse and uneven in thickness under the
rotating arc. At the middle and late stage of solidifica-
tion, the degree of solute segregation in the macro-
segregation area is the weakest under the diffuse arc.
(3) The value of volume-averaged segregation extent is al-
ways the smallest under the diffuse arc and the largest
under the Gaussian arc, with final values of 67.53% and
69.66%, respectively. The areas with weak and strong
segregation respectively account for a large and small
proportion under the diffuse arc, which also demon-
strates that the degree of solute segregation under the
diffuse arc is the weakest.
(4) Both LST and SDAS inside the ingots have the same
distribution trend and variation pattern. The values of
them are quite small near the side, bottom and top
areas of the ingot, while relatively large at the top of
the side wall. In addition, they are smaller in the
large-scale macrosegregation area at the center under
the diffuse arc than that under the Gaussian and
rotating arc. The volume-averaged values of both are
relatively the largest under the Gaussian arc, about
1599 s and 209 mm, respectively; and they are the
smallest under the diffuse arc, about 1520 s and
206 mm, respectively.
(5) Both aspects of segregation defect and solidification
quality are taken as evaluation indexes. According to
this, the product quality of VAR ingots prepared under
the diffuse arc is the best, followed by the rotating arc,
and the worst under the Gaussian arc.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Nos. 52171031, 51934002) and Funda-
mental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.
N2125001). The authors are grateful for their financial
support.
4005
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