Applied Strain Field on Microstructure Optimization of Ti-Al-Nb Alloy Computer Simulated by Phase Field Approach

The effects of applied tensile strain on the coherent α_2→O-phase transformation in Ti-Al-Nb alloys are explored bycomputer simulation using a phase-field method. The focus is on the influence of the applied strain direction onthe microstructure and volume fraction of the O-phase precipitates. It is found that altering applied strain directioncan modify microstructure of Ti-25Al-10～12Nb (at. pct) alloy during α_2→O-phase transformation effectively andfull laminate microstructure in the Ti-25Al-10Nb (at. pct) alloy can be realized by an applied strain only along thedirection 30°away from the α_2 phase <1010> in magnitude equivalent to the stress-free transformation strain. Thesimulation also shows that not only the magnitude of applied strain but also the applied strain direction influencesthe O-phase volume fraction and the effect of strain direction on the volume fraction is up to 25%.

Simulation of microstructure evolution in fused-coating additive manufacturing based on phase field approach

The mechanical properties of metal components are determined by the solidification behaviour and microstructure. A quantitative phase field model is used to investigate the microstructure evolution of fusedcoating additive manufacturing, by which to improve the quality of deposition. During the fused-coating process, the molten metal in a crucible flows out of a nozzle and then reaches the substrate. The solidification happens at the moment when the molten metal comes into contact with substrate moving in three-dimensional space. The macroscopic heat transfer model of fused-coating is established to get the temperature field considered as the initial temperature boundary conditions in the phase field model. The numerical and experimental results show that the morphology of grains varies with different solidification environments. Columnar grains are observed during the early period at the bottom of fused-coating layer and the equiaxed grains appear subsequently ahead of the columnar grains. Columnar dendrites phase field simulations about the grains morphology and solute distribution are conducted considering the solidification environments. The simulation results are in good agreement with experimental results.

Effect of high magnetic field on phase transformation temperature and microstructure of Fe-based Alloys

The effect of a high magnetic field up to 30T on phase transformation temperature and microstructure of Fe-based alloys has been reviewed. A high magnetic field accelerates ferrite transformation, changes the morphology of the transformed microstructures and increases the A3 and A1 temperature. In a magnetic field of 30T, the A1 temperature increases by about 37.1℃ for Fe-0.8C, the A3 temperature for pure Fe increases by about 33.1℃. The measured transformation temperature data are not consistent with calculation results using Weiss molecular field theory. Ferrite grains are elongated and aligned along the direction of magnetic field in Fe-0.4C and Fe-0.6C alloys by ferrite transformation, but elongated and aligned structure was not found in pure Fe, Fe-0.05C alloy and Fe-1.5Mn-0.11C-0.1V alloy.

Experimental studies and phase field modeling of microstructure evolution during solidification with electromagnetic stirring

Thixocasting requires manufacturing of billets with non-dendritic microstructure.Aluminum alloy A356 billets were produced by rheocasting in a mould placed inside a linear electromagnetic stirrer.Subsequent heat treatment was used to produce a transition from rosette to globular microstructure.The current and the duration of stirring were explored as control parameters.Simultaneous induction heating of the billet during stirring was quantified using experimentally determined thermal profiles.The effect of processing parameters on the dendrite fragmentation was discussed.Corresponding computational modeling of the process was performed using phase-field modeling of alloy solidification in order to gain insight into the process of morphological changes of a solid during this process.A non-isothermal alloy solidification model was used for simulations.The morphological evolution under such imposed thermal cycles was simulated and compared with experimentally determined one.Suitable scaling using the thermosolutal diffusion distances was used to overcome computational difficulties in quantitative comparison at system scale.The results were interpreted in the light of existing theories of microstructure refinement and globularisation.

Unconventional phase field simulations of transforming materials with evolving microstructures

Transforming materials with evolving microstructures is one of the most important classes of smart materials that have many potential technological applications, and an unconventional phase field approach based on the characteristic functions of transforming variants has been developed to simulate the formation and evolution of their microstructures. This approach is advantageous in its explicit material symmetry and energy well structure, minimal number of ma- terial coefficients, and easiness in coupling multiple physical processes and order parameters, and has been applied successfully to study the microstructures and macroscopic prop- erties of shape memory alloys, ferroelectrics, ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, and multiferroic magnetoelectric crys- tals and films with increased complexity. In this topical re- view, the formulation of this unconventional phase field approach will be introduced in details, and its applications to various transforming materials will be discussed. Some ex- amples of specific microstructures will also be presented.

Effect of aging in an electric field on microstructures and properties of 1420 Al-Li alloy

After solution treatment, the 1420 Al-Li alloy samples were aged at different temperatures in an electric field with different intensity. The measurements made showed that the electric field increased the strength of the 1420 Al-Li alloy, and best properties were obtained when they were aged at 120 ℃ with E=4 kV/cm for 12 hrs. The electric field promoted the nucleation of δ′ phase, increased the quantity of the δ′ phase, and made the size of the δ′ phase particles smaller. The electric field restrained the formation and growth of PFZ, and increased the intensity of the electric field while the width of the PFZ was decreased.

Phase-field Simulation of Microstructural Evolution during Preparation of Semi-solid Metal by Electromagnetic Stirring Method

In the process of preparation of semi-solid metal materials, a variety of factors would influence the preparing time and the morphology of non-dendritic microstructure. The aim of this work is using phase-field method to simulate non-dendritic growth during preparation of AI-4Cu-Mg semi-solid alloy by electromagnetic stirring method （EMS method）. Several factors such as the disturbance intensity, anisotropy, the thickness of the interface and the ratio of diffusivity in solid and liquid were considered. It is shown that decreasing the thickness of the interface results in more circular outline of particles, and increasing the diffusivity in solid can reduce degree of microsegregation. The disturbance intensity in the model can be connected with current intensity of stator or magnetic induction density impressed. Simulation results show that the larger the disturbance intensity or magnetic induction density, the more globular morphology the original phase in the matrix.

Influence of magnetic field on microstructure and properties of Ni60 plasma surfacing layer

In order to control the shape and distribution of hardening phase in plasma surfacing deposit, a longitudinal DC magnetic field was applied during plasma surfacing of nickel-based alloy Ni60. Hardness, wearing resistance, microstructure and phase coastitnent of the plasma surfacing layer were investigated. It was revealed that the hardness and wearing resistance of the Ni60 plasma surfacing layer could gotten significantly enhanced through introducing magnetic field. The mechanical properties of the surfacing deposit were optimal when magnetic field current is 1 A. The metallurgical analysis showed that the microstructure of the Ni60 plasma surfacing layer was mainly composed of γ solid solution and some hardening phase particles such as Cr7C3 with an application of the magnetic field.

A Phase-field Model to Simulate Recrystallization in an AZ31 Mg Alloy in Comparison of Experimental Data

A model has been established to simulate the realistic spatio-temporal microstructure evolution in recrystallization of a magnesium alloy using the phase field approach. A set of rules have been proposed to decide the real physical value of all parameters in the model. The thermodynamic software THERMOCALC is applied to determine the local chemical free energy and strain energy, which is added to the free energy density of grains before recrystallization. The Arrhenius formula is used to describe boundary mobility and the activity energy is suggested with a value of zinc segregation energy at the boundary. However, the mobility constant in the formula was found out by fitting to a group of grain size measurements during recrystallization of the alloy. The boundary range is suggested to decide the gradient parameters in addition of fitting to the experimental boundary energy value. These parameter values can be regarded as a database for other similar simulations and the fitting rules can also be applied to build up databases for any other alloy systems. The simulated results show a good agreement with reported experimental measurement of the alloy at the temperatures from 300 to 400℃ for up to 100 min but not at 250℃. This implies a mechanism variation in activity energy of the boundary mobility in the alloy at low temperature.

Effect of a direct magnetic field on the interfacial microstructure between molten aluminium and solid iron

Effect of a direct magnetic field on the interfacial microstructure between molten aluminium and solid iron was studied. The intermetallic phases formed in the intermetallic layers were investigated by means of electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was found that the DC magnetic field can reduce the average thickness of the intermetallic layer and the average aluminium content in the intermetallic layer. Moreover, the intermetallic phases formed in the intermetallic layers are identified as Al3Fe and Al5Fe2 in the absence of the DC magnetic field, while only Al5Fe2 phase present in the presence of the DC magnetic field.

Multi-phase field simulation of multi-grain peritectic transition in multiple phase transformation

Taking Fe-C binary alloy as an example,based on the multi-phase field model,the nucleation and growth ofδphase,peritectic reaction,peritectic transformation,and the growth of subsequent austenite are simulated.Effects of the nucleation site of austenite on the peritectic reaction rate and the starting time of the peritectic transformation were studied.The simulation results show that theγphase,as a shell,surrounds theδphase and grows rapidly when the peritectic reaction occurs between the dendriticδgrains,and a layer ofγphase shell is formed aroundδphase after the peritectic reaction.After theδphase is surrounded byγphase completely,the membrane shell separates the L phase from theδphase,so that the phase transfers from peritectic reaction to peritectic transformation.During the peritectic transformation,since the solute diffusion coefficient of the liquid phase is much greater than that of the solid phase,the average growth rate of austenite in the liquid phase is visibly higher than that of theδphase.The peritectic reaction rate is related to the curvature of the nucleation site of theγphase on theδphase grains.The peritectic reaction rate at the large curvatures is faster than that at small curvatures.

Multi-phase field simulation of grain growth in multiple phase transformations of a binary alloy

This work establishes a temperature-controlled sequence function, and a new multi-phase-field model, for liquid- solid-solid multi-phase transformation by coupling the liquid-solid phase transformation model with the solid-solid phase transformation model. Taking an Fe-C alloy as an example, the continuous evolution of a multi-phase transformation is simulated by using this new model. In addition, the growth of grains affected by the grain orientation of the parent phase （generated in liquid-solid phase transformation） in the solid-solid phase transformation is studied. The results show that the morphology of ferrite grains which nucleate at the boundaries of the austenite grains is influenced by the orientation of the parent austenite grains. The growth rate of ferrite grains which nucleate at small-angle austenite grain boundaries is faster than those that nucleate at large-angle austenite grain boundaries. The difference of the growth rate of ferrites grains in different parent phase that nucleate at large-angle austenite grain boundaries, on both sides of the boundaries, is greater than that of ferrites nucleating at small-angle austenite grain boundaries.

Parameters affecting microsegregation in phase-field simulation

The influence of various material and computational parameters such as interface kinetic coefficient(β), surface energy(σ), anisotropy parameter(γ) and the noise amplitude(α) upon microsegregation patterns during the crystal growth was investigated by using the phase-field model which incorporated the concentration field equations. The computed results indicate that, when the appropriate value is assigned to α, the fluctuant scope of solute composition in the solid is steady, and the influence of α on microsegregation is small; the larger the interface kinetic coefficient β, the more acutely the solute composition in the solid fluctuates, but the severity of microsegregation in the front interface reduces; with the increment of anisotropy parameter γ, the fluctuation of solute composition in the solid becomes more acutely, and the severity of microsegregation in the front interface aggravates; the larger surface energy σ, the smaller the fluctuant scope of solute composition in the solid is, and the smaller the degree of microsegregation is.

Phase field simulation of grain refinement in silver-based filler metal

Numerical simulation is one of the important auxiliary methods for studying materials-related problems. In this study, phase field simulation was employed to investigate the refinement behavior of BAg55CuZn-x B brazing alloys. Simulation and experimental studies were conducted for B contents ranging from 0 wt.% to 0.2 wt.%. The results demonstrated that the addition of 0.05 wt.% B in the brazing alloy leads to a significant refinement effect. As the B content increases, the grain size further reduces, and a refinement stagnation phenomenon occurs after exceeding 0.15 wt.%. The solidification process of brazing alloys with different B content was predicted by simulation, and the simulation results showed that with the increase of B content, the initial number of nucleation increased, and the radius of the dendrite tip decreased. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental findings, providing further evidence of the refining effect of the B element and the reliable predictive capability of the phase field model.

Numerical Simulation of Microstructure and Microsegregation in Ni-Cu Alloy under Isothermal Condition

Phase-field method can be used to describe the complicated morphologies of dendrite growth without explicitly tracking the complex phase boundaries. The influences of initial temperature and initial concentration on dendrite growth are investigated by using the phase-field model coupling concentration field equations. The calculated results indicate that the supersaturation, which is larger in lower initial temperature and lower concentration under isothermal condition, plays a very important role in microsegregation. It is found that the larger supersaturation causes higher degree microsegregation and faster dendrite growth, and the more serious side-branchs occur. The simulated results agree well with the solidification theory.

Simulation for microstructure evolution of Al-Si alloys in solidification process

The numerical simulation for microstructure evolution of Al-Si alloy in solidification process is carried out with phase field model. The phase field model, solution algorithm and the program of dendrite growth are introduced. The definition of initial condition, boundary condition and the stability condition of differential format are all included. The simulation results show that the evolution of dendrite morphology is as follows: the initial circle nucleus transforms to the rectangle one firstly, then its corners develop to the four trunks and from which the secondary side branches are generated and even the third side branches are produced from secondary ones. The dendrite tip radius decreases quickly at the initial stage and changes slowly at the late stage, which is mainly due to the fact that more and more side branches appear and grow up. The comparisons of dendrite morphology between simulated results and investigations by others are also presented. It is proved that the dendrite morphologies are similar in trunks and arms growth, so the developed phase field program is accurate.

Multi-scale modeling in microstructure evolution of materials

Intelligent design and control of the microstructure to tailor properties of materials is the dream that materials scientists have been worked hard for many years. Formation of research area of computational materials science paves the way to realize the dream. Simulation of microstructure evolution is a chief branch of the computational materials science and has caused great attention from materials researchers. Multi-scale modeling gets popular just within 5-6 years recently due to huge research works to try to shorten the distance between simulation and application. People have to command one or more classical simulation methods in order to do the multi-scale modeling so chief simulation methods will be discussed first and then more reviews in detail are given to the phase field simulation. The main part of the paper is carried out to introduce two key approaches to do the multi-scale modeling job. It is suggested that extension of the multiscale modeling is necessary to study the technologies to link microstructure simulation, processing simulation and property simulation each other as well as to build bridges between different simulation methods and between analytical models and numerical models.

Fe-3%Si合金薄带连铸板热处理过程层状异构组织演变的相场模拟研究

本研究基于Fe-3%Si合金铸轧板材组织特征,构建了不同类型柱状晶/等轴晶层状异构组织相场模型,实现了界面曲率为驱动力的情况下层状异构组织的高温粗化过程模拟,量化分析了层状异构特征对铸轧组织演化过程的影响规律。研究表明,由于晶粒长径比对晶粒尖端曲率的影响,当初始状态下柱状晶长径比较高时,在界面曲率的驱动下最终会形成等轴化的多晶组织;反之则等轴化程度减小。明确了不同类型异构组织演化特征,相同退火时间下组织的等轴化程度受其层状异构特征的影响,这一现象的本质是等轴晶通过自身演化引起柱状晶两端曲率变化,诱发柱状晶间的相互“吞噬”并发生等轴化,柱状晶则在部分结构的组织中生长至带钢表面后停止生长,最终保持柱状特征。本研究进一步加深了对铸态薄带中初始凝固组织在后续热处理时演化过程的认识,对硅钢制备工艺优化具有重要的理论指导意义和实际应用价值。

Microstructure evolution of AI-Si-10Mg in direct metal laser sintering using phase-field modeling

Direct metal laser sintering （DMLS） has evolvedas a popular technique in additive manufacturing, whichproduces metallic parts layer-by-layer by the application oflaser power. DMLS is a rapid manufacturing process, andthe properties of the build material depend on the sinteringmechanism as well as the microstructure of the buildmaterial. Thus, the prediction of part microstructures dur-ing the process may be a key factor for process optimiza-tion. In addition, the process parameters play a crucial rolein the microstructure evolution, and need to be controlledeffectively. In this study, the microstructure evolution ofA1-Si-10Mg alloy in DMLS process is studied with the helpof the phase field modeling. A MATLAB code is used tosolve the phase field equations, where the simulationparameters include temperature gradient, laser power andscan speed. From the simulation result, it is found that thetemperature gradient plays a significant role in the evolu-tion of microstructure with different process parameters. Ina single-seed simulation, the growth of the dendriticstructure increases with the increase in the temperaturegradient. When considering multiple seeds, the increasingin temperature gradients leads to the formation of finerdendrites; however, with increasing time, the dendrites joinand grain growth are seen to be controlled at the interface.

Fe-C合金等温凝固过程的相场法模拟

基于KKS模型,采用耦合相场和溶质场的方法,对Fe-0.5mol%C合金凝固过程中的枝晶生长进行了模拟,并研究了过冷度、各向异性强度和扰动强度对枝晶生长形貌的影响。结果表明:随着过冷度的减小,枝晶主干细化,各向异性程度增大,晶粒生长速度减小,溶质扩散层厚度增加,枝晶的最高溶质浓度降低,溶质梯度减小;随着各向异性的增加,晶粒由海藻状转变为枝晶态,枝晶生长速度也随之增大;扰动强度引发了侧向分枝,侧枝间互相竞争生长,根部出现"颈缩"现象,但扰动强度的加入并不改变枝晶尖端的稳态行为。