Numerical simulation of dendrite growth and microsegregation formation of binary alloys during solidification process

The dendrite growth and solute microsegregation of Fe-C binary alloy are simulated during solidification process by using cellular automaton method. In the model the solid fraction is deduced from the relationship among the temperature, solute concentration and curvature of the solid/liquid interface unit, which can be expressed as a quadric equation, instead of assuming the interface position and calculating the solid fraction from the interface velocity. Then by using this model a dendrite with 0 and 45 degree of preferential growth direction are simulated respectively. Furthermore, a solidification microstructure and solute microsegregation are simulated by this method. Finally, different Gibbs-Thomson coefficient and liquid solute diffusing coefficient are adopted to investigate their influences on the morphology of dendrite.