Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH

Rongshan Qin (R. S. Qin)

14. Fluid flow in solidification 1


In solidification, flow can be caused by the inherited momentum from transferring
the molten liquid from the melting container to the mold, the density differences in
different part of liquids, metal shrinking when they solidify, and the intentionally
introduced force convection. Flow influences the grain growth velocity, grain
morphology, segregation and sometime the composition of the solid which forms.
Flow can also capture gas, oxide and slag. Flow can be very vigorously such as
turbulence flow in semisolid metal processing technique, or be very thick such as
the mixture of liquid and solid phases with relative high solid fraction, or be
restricted in local area such as flow between the dendritic arms.


14.1 Flow controlling examples in casting

In many casting processes, molten metal is transferred from melting container to
the solidification mold. To avoid picking up gases and getting oxidations, liquid
metal is transferred by gating systems. Figure 1 illustrated the possible shapes of
sprue which is part of gating system. Due to the gravitational forces, the pouring
liquid moves with acceleration and gets faster and faster when flow down the
sprue.

Figure 1. Design sprue shape to reduce gas pickup possibility (scanned from [1])

From gt v = and ( )
2
0
2
1
gt dt t v h
t
= =

it is known that
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH

Rongshan Qin (R. S. Qin)

gh v 2 = (14.1)
which means that when the sprue is in cylinder shape as illustrated in figure 1a,
gaps will form in sprue because continuity gives

2 2 1 1 h h h h
v A v A = (14.2)

where
1 h
A and
2 h
A are flow cross section area at height h1 and h2,
1 h
v and
1 h
v
are velocity of flow at height h1 and h2, respectively. The gap in sprue will be
filled by gases and flow through the sprue may pickup gases and oxides. To
overcome the problem, the sprue is designed in a parabolic shape, as illustrated
in figure 1b. The areas at different heights complies


1
2
2
1
h
h
A
A
h
h
= (14.3)

The above consideration didnt include the effect of sprue wall friction and back
pressure.


Figure 2. Streamlined gating system (scanned from [1])

Aspiration can also occur at abrupt changes in directions of flow channel. One
way to reduce this is by streamlining the horizontal runner, as illustrated in figure
2. An alternative approach is to make the horizontal portion of the gating system
large so that flow velocity in this portion is low. A typical gating ration for
aluminium casting is A1:A2:A3=3:1:3, where A1, A2 and A3 are areas of the
cross-sections illustrated in figure 2. In practice, A1:A2:A3 is between 1.5:1:1.5 to
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH

Rongshan Qin (R. S. Qin)

5:1:5, the higher ratio being used for alloys which easily getting oxides or difficult
to remove entrained slag or oxides, e.g. ductile iron.

The temperature dropping in gating system is easily to calculate. For the
cylindrical runner of radius a and length L as figure 3, heat conservation gives

( ) ( ) ( ) adx h T T dx a
dt
dT
c
L L
2
0
2
= (14.4)

where
L
and c
L
are density and specific heat of the liquid metal, respectively. T
0

and h is the mold temperature and mold metal interface resistance, respectively.
Equation (14.4) gives temperature dropping due to the heat transfer to mold as

( )
v c a
L T T h
T
L L
i

0
2
= (14.5)

where v is the flow velocity of liquid metal.



Figure 3. Flow in cylindrical runner


When metal flow in long channel, the length the metal flows before it stopped by
solidification is called fluidity. This is different from the definition by physics where
the fluidity is the reciprocal of viscosity. In engineering, the liquid metal fails to fill
the cavity before it solidifies is said to be insufficiently fluid. The flow and
solidification of pure metal in a fluidity channel is illustrated in figure 4. The fluidity
is affected by metal parameters such as temperature, viscosity and heat of fusion,
mold and mold-metal parameters such as heat-flow resistance at the interface,
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH

Rongshan Qin (R. S. Qin)

mold conductivity, and specific heat, and pressure difference and channel
diameter.


Figure 4. Flow in channel (a) starting of flow; (b) during flow; (c) end of flow [1]

According to (7.31) for flow-in melt with temperature at melting point, the
entrance solidifies in a time given by

( ) ( ) 2
0 0
a
T T h
L
D
T T h
L
t
M
L
M
L

=

(14.6)

where D is the shell thickness and is estimated by the ratio of volume to surface
and is a/2. L is the heat of fusion. The total length of flow before the channel
entrance solidifies is

( )
v
a
T T h
L
L
M
L
f
2
0

=

(14.7)

L
f
is the fluidity. When the flow-in liquid is overheated by T, the fluidity is

( )
( ) T c L v
a
T T h
L
L
M
L
f
+

=
2
0

(14.8)

Figure 5. Fluidity in Pb-Sn system [2]
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH

Rongshan Qin (R. S. Qin)

The fluidity of alloy decreases because of the formation of dendritic morphology
for alloy. The dendrites create more resistance to fluid flow. When alloy
composition approaches to eutectic, fluidity is generally to increase, as illustrated
in figure 5.


14.2 Effect of flow on particle morphology

Figure 4 shows that the grains grow towards the flow-in direction. The face-flow
growth is a common phenomenon and is proved as following.

In liquid metal without flow, atom jumps randomly toward any directions. To
create flow, atom must be forced to move along the flow direction. When an atom
moves distance the force does F work. The work helps to overcome the
kinetic barrier. The double well potential changes, as illustrated in figure 6 [2].


Figure 6. Barriers (L) No flow (M) along flow (R) against flow

For the case of figure 6b where the considered side of the grain face to the
coming flow, atomic net flow changes from

(

\
|

|

\
|
= =

RT
G
RT
G
v n A J J J
m b
net
exp 1 exp
2 2 1
0
(14.9)

into

Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH

Rongshan Qin (R. S. Qin)





Figure 7. 2D phase-field simulation of grain growth in flow [3]

(

\
|

\
|
+

= =

RT
F
RT
G
RT
F
RT
G
v n A J J J
m b
net
2
exp 1
2
exp
2 2 1

(14.10)

The net flow in figure 6c is

(

\
|
+

\
|

= =

RT
F
RT
G
RT
F
RT
G
v n A J J J
m b
net
2
exp 1
2
exp
2 2 1

(14.11)

Corresponding to the simplification for getting equation (13.13), equation (14.10)
is simplified as
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology, POSTECH

Rongshan Qin (R. S. Qin)


|

\
|
+
|

\
|
=

2 2
exp
F
G
RT
F
M v
m
(14.12)

Equation (14.11) is simplified into

|

\
|

|

\
|
=

2 2
exp
F
G
RT
F
M v
m
(14.13)

Obviously, it has


< < v v (14.14)

Equation (14.14) shows that the side of grain that faces to the coming flow grows
faster than without flow, and the side of grain that along the flow direction grows
slower than without flow. This phenomenon has been proved by experiments
and many numerical simulations such as by phase-field modelling, as illustrated
in figure 7 and 8. The case will be further studied in next lecture.


Figure 8. 3D phase-field simulation of grain growth in flow [3]


References

1. M.C. Flemings, Solidification processing, 1974.
2. Y.N. Jiao et al, Acta Metallurgical Sinica A, 12 (1994) 540-544.
3. X. Tong, Phys. Rev. E 63 (2001)061601