Three-dimensional mesoscopic modeling of equiaxed dendritic solidification in a thin sample: Effect of convection flow

Abstract

A 3D mesoscopic envelope model is used to numerically simulate the experimental X-ray observations of the equiaxed dendritic isothermal solidification of a thin sample of Al-20 wt%Cu alloy including the natural convection flow. Several four-grain simulations are run to investigate the effect of the convection, of the grain position, and of the grain rotation on the tip growth kinetics of one of the grains. We show that the effect of convection flow - consequence of the presence of gravity parallel to the sample thickness direction, z - on the growth kinetics of the reference grain depends significantly on the position of the grain along the sample thickness.