A 3D mesoscopic envelope model is used to numerically simulate the experimental X-ray observations of isothermal equiaxed dendritic solidification of a thin sample of Al-20 wt%Cu alloy. We show the evolution of the system composed of multiple grains growing under influence of strong solutal interactions. We emphasize the three-dimensional effects in the thin sample thickness on the growth kinetics, focusing on three aspects: (i) the impact of the third dimension on the solute diffusion, (ii) the influence of the orientation of the preferential grain growth directions 100 on the interactions with the confining sample walls, and (iii) the influence of the grain position along the sample thickness. We demonstrate the importance of considering the three-dimensional structure of the thin samples despite the small thickness. We further show that the mesoscopic envelope model can accurately describe the shape and the time-evolution of the equiaxed grains growing under influence of strong solutal interactions.

The packing of free-floating crystal grains during solidification has a strong impact on the phase-change process as well as on the structure and the defects in the solidified material. The packing fraction is affected by the particular dendritic morphology of the grains and by their low inertia resulting from the small density difference between solid and liquid. Understanding the grain packing phenomenon during metal alloy solidification is not experimentally possible since packing is coupled to many other phenomena. We therefore investigate the packing of equiaxed dendrites on a model system, consisting of fixed-shape nonconvex model particles sedimenting in conditions hydrodynamically similar to those encountered in solidifying metals. We perform numerical simulations by a discrete-element model and experiments with transparent liquids in a sedimentation column. The combination of experiments and simulations enables us to determine the packing fraction as a function of (i) the grain morphology, expressed by a shape parameter, and (ii) the hydrodynamic conditions, expressed by the particle Stokes number.

Abstract. The random packing of equiaxed dendritic grains in metal-alloy solidification is numerically simulated and validated via an experimental model. This phenomenon is characterized by a driving force which is induced by the solid-liquid density difference. Thereby, the solid dendritic grains, nucleated in the melt, sediment and pack with a relatively low inertia-to-dissipation ratio, which is the so-called Stokes number. The characteristics of the particle packed porous structure such as solid packing fraction affect the final solidified product. A multi-sphere clumping Discrete Element Method (DEM) approach is employed to predict the solid packing fraction as function of the grain geometry under the solidification conditions. Five different monodisperse noncohesive frictionless particle collections are numerically packed by means of a vertical acceleration: a) three dendritic morphologies; b) spheres and c) one ellipsoidal geometry. In order to validate our numerical results with solidification conditions, the sedimentation and packing of two monodisperse collections (spherical and dendritic) is experimentally carried out in a viscous quiescent medium. The hydrodynamic similarity is respected between the actual phenomenon and the experimental model, that is a low Stokes number, o(10 −3 ). In this way, the experimental average solid packing fraction is employed to validate the numerical model. Eventually, the average packing fraction is found to highly depend on the equiaxed dendritic grain sphericity, with looser packings for lower sphericity.