Calculation of the molten pool depth in vacuum arc remelting of alloy Vt3-1

This paper is devoted to a simple heat model of vacuum arc remelting (VAR) including the solution of a nonlinear heat conduction equation with nonlinear boundary conditions typical for VAR. A finite-difference analog of the model’s initial equation is obtained by the finite-volume method. The system obtained is solved by a two-cyclic scheme of component-wise splitting. A simplified model neglecting the magnetohydrodynamic phenomena in the molten pool is tested by comparison of the results of numerical calculations of the pool depth in remelting of the Russian titanium alloy Vt3-1 (Ti-6.5Al-2.5Mo-1.5Cr-0.5Fe-0.3Si) with the results of radiographic experiments. It has been shown that the model fits the experimental data well under various remelting conditions (the ingot diameter and operating current intensity).