Equiaxed dendritic solidification with convection: Part I. Multiscale/multiphase modeling

Equiaxed dendritic solidification in the presence of melt convection and solid-phase transport is investigated in a series of three articles. In part I, a multiphase model is developed to predict composition and structure evolution in an alloy solidifying with an equiaxed morphology. The model accounts for the transport phenomena occurring on the macroscopic (system) scale, as well as the grain nucleation and growth mechanisms taking place over various microscopic length scales. The present model generalizes a previous multiscale/multiphase model by including liquid melt convection and solid-phase transport. The macroscopic transport equations for the solid and the interdendritic and extradendritic liquid phases are derived using the volume averaging technique and closed by supplementary relations to describe the interfacial transfer terms. In part II, a numerical application of the model to equiaxed dendritic solidification of an Al-Cu alloy in a rectangular cavity is demonstrated. Limited experimental validation of the model using a NH₄Cl-H₂O transparent model alloy is provided in part III.