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Directional Solidification - Wikipedia
Directional Solidification - Wikipedia
solidification
Directional solidification (DS) and progressive solidification are t ypes of solidificat ion wit hin
cast ings. Direct ional solidificat ion is solidificat ion t hat occurs from fart hest end of t he cast ing
and works it s way t owards t he sprue. Progressive solidificat ion, also known as parallel
solidification,[1] is solidificat ion t hat st art s at t he walls of t he cast ing and progresses
perpendicularly from t hat surface.[2]
Directional solidification
Progressive solidification
Theory -
Most met als and alloys shrink as t he mat erial changes from a liquid st at e t o a solid st at e.
Therefore, if liquid mat erial is not available t o compensat e for t his shrinkage a shrinkage defect
forms.[3] When progressive solidificat ion dominat es over direct ional solidificat ion a shrinkage
defect will form.[2]
The geomet rical shape of t he mold cavit y has a direct effect on progressive and direct ional
solidificat ion. At t he end of t unnel-t ype geomet ries, divergent heat flow occurs, which causes
t hat area of t he cast ing t o cool fast er t han surrounding areas; t his is called an end effect. Large
cavit ies do not cool as quickly as surrounding areas because t here is less heat flow; t his is called
a riser effect. Also not e t hat corners can creat e divergent or convergent (also known as hot
spots) heat flow areas.[4]
In order t o induce direct ional solidificat ion chills, risers, insulat ing sleeves, cont rol of pouring rat e,
and pouring t emperat ure can be ut ilized.[5]
Direct ional solidificat ion can be used as a purificat ion process. Since most impurit ies will be more
soluble in t he liquid t han in t he solid phase during solidificat ion, impurit ies will be "pushed" by t he
solidificat ion front , causing much of t he finished cast ing t o have a lower concent rat ion of
impurit ies t han t he feedst ock mat erial, while t he last solidified met al will be enriched wit h
impurit ies. This last part of t he met al can be scrapped or recycled. The suit abilit y of direct ional
solidificat ion in removing a specific impurit y from a cert ain met al depends on t he part it ion
coefficient of t he impurit y in t he met al in quest ion, as described by t he Scheil equat ion.
Direct ional solidificat ion (in zone melt ing) is frequent ly employed as a purificat ion st ep in t he
product ion of mult icryst alline silicon for solar cells.
Microstructural Effects
Direct ional solidificat ion is t he preferred t echnique for cast ing high t emperat ure nickel-based
superalloys t hat are used in t urbine engines of aircraft . Some microst ruct ural problems such as
coarse dendrit ic st ruct ure, long dendrit e side branches, and porosit y hinder t he full pot ent ial of
single cryst al ni-based alloys.[6] This morphology can be underst ood by looking at t he G/V rat io
of a solidificat ion where G is t he t emperat ure gradient in t he melt ahead of t he solidifying front
and V is t he rat e of solidificat ion.[7] This rat io must be maint ained wit hin a range t o ensure single
cryst al format ion wit h t he correct microst ruct ure of t he coarse dendrit e wit h side branches.[8] It
has been found t hat increasing t he solidificat ion cooling rat e furt her improves t he mechanical
propert ies and rupt ure life of single cryst als grown by direct ional solidificat ion due t o refinement
of t he y’ precipit at es.[9]
In direct ional solidificat ion growt hs of single cryst als, spurious grains nucleat e when molt en
met al flowed int o a gap bet ween t he mold/seed gap and solidified.[10] This is cat ast rophic t o
mechanical propert ies of Ni-based superalloys such as CMSX4, and can be minimized by keeping
t he t olerance of <001> from t he local surface normal.[11] Addit ionally, t he range of axial
orient at ions in t he direct ional solidificat ion st art ing block should be minimized in order t o
successfully grow a single cryst al.[12] This is difficult depending on t he range of orient at ions in
t he DS st art er block, and t herefore makes orient at ion cont rol a large area of focus.[13]
In Ti-Al base alloys, t he lamellar microst ruct ure exhibit s anisot ropic propert ies in t he lamellar
direct ion and t herefore t he kinet ics and orient at ion of it s growt h are int egral t o opt imizing it s
mechanical propert ies.[14] Select ing a direct ional solidificat ion growt h where t he lamellar
st ruct ure is parallel t o t he growt h direct ion will result in a high st rengt h and duct ilit y.[15] It is even
more difficult t o precipit at e t his phase since it is not formed from t he liquid and inst ead from t he
solid st at e.[16] The first way t o overcome t his challenge is by using a seed mat erial, which is
properly orient ed and t hat nucleat es new lamellae during processing wit h t he same orient at ion
as t he original mat erial.[17] It is placed in front of t he main bulk of mat erial so t hat when t he melt
is solidifying it has a precedent for t he correct orient at ion t o follow.[18] If a seed is not used, t he
ot her met hod of achieving t he high st rengt h single lamellar phase is t o have t he lamellar
st ruct ure orient ed along t he growt h direct ion.[19] However, t his is only successful for a small
window of t he solidificat ion, as it s success from t he columnar growt h of t he bet a phase
followed by t he equiaxed growt h of t he alpha phase and alloying wit h boron is compromised by
t he high t hermal gradient of t he cooling.[20]
References
Bibliography
Further reading
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