Study on Microstructural Evolution of Binary Alloy Crystal Growth in Directional Solidification Process

PFM (phase field method) was employed to study microstructure evolution, and considering the effect of solute concentration to the undercooling, we developed a phase field model for binary alloy on the basis of pure substance model. In the paper, the temperature field and solute field were coupled together in the phase field model to calculate the crystal growth of magnesium alloy in directional solidification. The simulation results showed a non-planar crystal growth of planar to cellular to columnar dendrite, the comparison of different dendrite patterns were carried out in the numerical simulation, and with the increasing of the anisotropy, the second dendrite arms became more developed.