Intermittent nucleation and periodic growth of grains under thermo-solutal convection during directional solidification of Al-Cu alloy

Abstract The presence of natural convection during solidification of alloys significantly influences the heat and mass transfer processes in the liquid phase, and thus affecting the nucleation and growth behaviors of grains. It is crucial to understand the impacts of thermo-solutal convection on the solidification process to control the final properties of casting ingots. In this study, the directional solidification of Al-15 wt.% Cu alloy under different temperature gradients has been in-situ observed using synchrotron radiation X-ray radiography. The solute distribution in the field of view (FOV) and three dimensional solid microstructure are obtained by our proposed image processing technique, which aims to determine the permeability and solutal Rayleigh number in the mushy zone over time. Then the interplay between the thermo-solutal flow and microstructure is quantitatively studied. Results indicate the solute elements are periodically discharged out of and confined to the mushy zone owing to the solutal instability in the mushy zone, which results in the periodic oscillation of solute concentration. Therefore, the oscillatory constitutional undercooling gives rise to the intermittent nucleation and periodic growth of grains, which in turn cause the periodic oscillation of permeability and the associated solutal Rayleigh number, thereby in turn resulting in the oscillation of solute concentration. Moreover, owing to the superposed solute flow and convective flow, the oscillation amplitudes of solute concentration and nucleation number vary in a sinusoidal manner in general.