Dendritic Morphology Simulation Using the Phase Field Method

Dendritic morphology was simulated using a macro- and micro-coupled method. Since the microstructure of a whole casting cannot be easily analyzed, a scheme was developed to calculate the temperature of the whole casting with the microstructure analyzed by selecting one cell in the central region of the casting. The heterogeneous nucleation was described using a Gaussian distribution with the dendritic growth controlled by the solution of the phase field equation. The initial temperature distribution in the microdomain was obtained by interpolating the cell temperatures near the selected cell with the interface undercooling assumed to be the sum of thermal, solute, and curvature effects. The solute distribution was calculated from the mixed solute conservation equation with noise introduced to produce the side branches. The simulation results agree well with experimental results.