Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2026
08:55
Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Quantitative phase-field modeling of nonisothermal solidification in dilute multicomponent alloys with arbitrary
1Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628, Japan.
Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|December 11, 2012
Summary
A new quantitative phase-field model simulates microstructural patterns during nonisothermal alloy solidification. The model accurately reproduces complex phenomena like dendritic growth in binary and ternary systems.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Computational Physics
- Thermodynamics
Background:
- Microstructural pattern formation is crucial in alloy solidification.
- Accurate simulation of nonisothermal processes in multicomponent alloys remains challenging.
- Existing models may struggle with arbitrary thermal and solutal diffusivities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a quantitative phase-field model for simulating microstructural pattern formation.
- To handle nonisothermal solidification in dilute multicomponent alloys.
- To validate the model's accuracy and convergence properties.
Main Methods:
- Developed a quantitative phase-field model incorporating antitrapping current terms.
- Employed matched asymptotic analysis to connect the model to free-boundary problems.
- Performed simulations for nonisothermal dendritic growth in binary and ternary alloys.
Main Results:
- The model successfully simulates microstructural pattern formation in nonisothermal solidification.
- Matched asymptotic analysis confirms the model's reproduction of the free-boundary problem in the thin-interface limit.
- Simulation results demonstrated convergence with decreasing interface thickness for various alloy systems.
Conclusions:
- The developed quantitative phase-field model is effective for simulating complex solidification phenomena.
- The model provides a robust framework for studying dendritic growth in multicomponent alloys.
- This work advances computational materials science for alloy design and processing.
Related Concept Videos
02:33Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Some solids can transition directly into the gaseous state, bypassing the liquid state, via a process known as sublimation. At room temperature and standard pressure, a piece of dry ice (solid CO2) sublimes, appearing to gradually disappear without ever forming any liquid. Snow and ice sublimate at temperatures below the melting point of water, a slow process that may be accelerated by winds and the reduced atmospheric pressures at high altitudes. When solid iodine is warmed, the solid sublimes...
01:24Solid–Solid Solutions
The temperature-composition phase diagram of two solids, A and B, which are immiscible in the solid phase but form miscible liquids, shows that when the temperature is low, these two exist as separate, pure solids (A and B). As the temperature increases, they transition into a single-phase liquid solution where A and B coexist. Moving from point a1 to a2 in the phase diagram, the composition changes such that solid B begins to separate from the solution, enriching the remaining liquid with A.
02:39Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
01:20The Phase Rule
The phase rule describes the relationship between the variance (degrees of freedom), the number of components, and the number of phases in a system at equilibrium.Variance is a concept that denotes the number of independent intensive properties (properties are those that do not depend on the amount of material in the system), such as temperature, pressure, and composition, that can be altered without impacting the number of phases in equilibrium.In a single-component system, such as pure water,...
02:39Phase Transitions: Vaporization and Condensation
The physical form of a substance changes on changing its temperature. For example, raising the temperature of a liquid causes the liquid to vaporize (convert into vapor). The process is called vaporization—a surface phenomenon. Vaporization occurs when the thermal motion of the molecules overcome the intermolecular forces, and the molecules (at the surface) escape into the gaseous state. When a liquid vaporizes in a closed container, gas molecules cannot escape. As these gas phase molecules...
01:24Electrochemical Systems
Electrochemical systems provide a fascinating insight into the dynamic interplay of charged species within various phases. One notable example is the interaction between a membrane permeable to K⁺ ions but not to Cl⁻ ions, separating an aqueous KCl solution from pure water. As K⁺ ions diffuse through the membrane, they generate net charges on each phase, leading to a potential difference between them.Similarly, when a piece of Zn is immersed in an aqueous ZnSO₄ solution, the Zn metal, composed...