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Atomistic underpinnings for orientation selection in alloy dendritic growth
C A Becker1, D Olmsted, M Asta
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|May 16, 2007
Summary
Alloying significantly alters crystal-melt interfacial free energy anisotropy, influencing dendritic growth orientations in materials science. This study reveals how minor composition changes impact solidification patterns.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Solidification Science
- Computational Materials Science
Background:
- Dendritic solidification exhibits high sensitivity to composition changes.
- Understanding the origins of this sensitivity is crucial for materials design.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the impact of alloying on crystal-melt interfacial free energy anisotropy.
- Explain the origins of sensitivity in dendritic growth morphologies.
Main Methods:
- Atomistic calculations of interfacial free energy magnitude and anisotropy.
- Utilized a model alloy system with no atomic size mismatch and ideal solution thermodynamics.
- Compared atomistic results with phase-field calculations.
Main Results:
- Alloying causes substantial changes in free-energy anisotropies.
- These changes are significant enough to alter growth orientations.
- Demonstrated a direct link between alloying, interfacial energy anisotropy, and growth morphology.
Conclusions:
- Alloying is a key factor driving changes in interfacial free energy anisotropy during solidification.
- The findings provide fundamental insights into controlling dendritic growth patterns through composition.
- This work bridges atomistic simulations and phase-field modeling for solidification phenomena.
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