Prediction of the solidification structure of casting and heterogeneous nucleation

摘要

The frequency of heterogeneous nucleation during the solidification of Al-Si binary alloy was estimated by comparing ex-perimentally obtained macrostructures of castings with numerically simulated ones. A molten alloy was unidirectionally solidifiedfrom a water-cooled copper chill in an adiabatic mold. The location of colunmar to equiaxed transition (CET) in the solidified alloyingot was measured. A numerical simulation for grain structure formation based on the Monte Carlo method was carried out, and thefrequency of heterogeneous nucleation in the alloy was evaluated by producing similar structure with the experimental one. The fre-quency of heterogeneous nucleation was expressed as a probabilistic function with an exponential form of undercooling that deter-mines the probability of nucleation event in the simulation. The value of the exponent is regarded as the nucleation parameter. Thenucleation parameter of Al-Si binary alloy varied with initial Sicontent.