Simulation of dendritic growth into an undercooled melt using kinetic Monte Carlo techniques

We consider the growth of a single fcc dendrite into an undercooled melt. Unlike most simulations of this well-studied phenomenon, we adopt an atomistic growth model that uses a kinetic Monte Carlo technique to track the free boundary. The model allows for both phase change and exchange between liquid and solid atoms on the surface of the crystal and is coupled to a continuum model for heat transport away from the interface. For small length and time scales, this approach provides simple, effective front tracking with fully resolved atomistic detail. An interesting finding is that the surface exchange mechanism appears to be important for capturing effects due to anisotropy that are needed to produce realistic growth shapes.