The main objective of the research project of the European Space Agency (ESA) - Microgravity Application Promotion (MAP) programme entitled Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition in SOLidification Processing (CETSOL) is the investigation of the formation of the transition from columnar to equiaxed macrostructure that takes place in casting. Indeed, grain structures observed in most casting processes of metallic alloys are the result of a competition between the growth of several arrays of dendrites that develop under constrained and unconstrained conditions, leading to the CET. A dramatic effect of buoyancy-driven flow on the transport of equiaxed crystals on earth is acknowledged. This leads to difficulties in conducting precise investigations of the origin of the formation of the equiaxed crystals and their interaction with the development of the columnar grain structure. Consequently, critical benchmark data to test fundamental theories of grain structure formation are required, that would benefit from microgravity investigations. Accordingly, the ESA-MAP CETSOL project has gathered together European groups with complementary skills to carry out experiments and to model the processes, in particular with a view to utilization of the reduced-gravity environment that will be afforded by the International Space Station (ISS) to get benchmark data. The ultimate objective of the research program is to significantly contribute to the improvement of integrated modelling of grain structure in industrially important castings. To reach this goal, the approach is devised to deepen the quantitative understanding of the basic physical principles that, from the microscopic to the macroscopic scales, govern microstructure formation in solidification processing under diffusive conditions and with fluid flow in the melt. Pertinent questions are attacked by well-defined model experiments on technical alloys and/or on model transparent systems, physical modelling at microstructure and mesoscopic scales (e.g. large columnar front or equiaxed crystals) and numerical simulation at all scales, up to the macroscopic scales of casting with integrated numerical models.
This paper gives an overview of the experiments on-board the International Space Station (ISS) performed so far by the CETSOL team. Al-7 wt% Si alloys with and without grain refiners were solidified in microgravity. Detailed grain structure analysis showed columnar growth in case of non-refined alloy, but the existence of a columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) in refined alloy. One main result is a sharp CET when increasing the solidification velocity and a progressive CET for lowering the temperature gradient. Applying a front tracking model this behavior was confirmed numerically for sharp CET. Using a CAFE model both segregation and grain structures were numerically modeled and show a fair agreement with the experimental findings.
Interaction of melt flow with solidification microstructures is of fundamental interest and technical relevance, due to selection of characteristic microstructural features and length scales. Here, we report on in-situ optical observation of both melt flow and microstructural evolution in polycrystalline cellular and dendritic microstructures during upwards directional solidification of a transparent succinonitrile-2.2wt.%(d)camphor alloy in a bulk rectangular sample. Melt flow at different flow intensity levels was applied and the microstructures characterized in terms of morphology, spacing and growth direction.
In unforced convection, transitions from planar to cellular and further to dendritic solid/liquid interface morphology were obtained, having cellular/dendritic spacing with similar trends as in literature data. In forced convection, after a plateau, decreasing dendrite spacing with increasing shear flow intensity is observed. Also, an increasing inclination of cellular and dendritic growth in downstream direction is established. Furthermore, for the first time a flow-mediated transition from columnar to seaweed-type microstructures and vice-versa is observed. Finally, an oscillation of dendrite tip positions with fixed frequency is found for a certain parameter range.
The main topic of the research project CETSOL in the framework of the Microgravity Application Promotion (MAP) programme of the European Space Agency (ESA) is the investigation of the transition from columnar to equiaxed grain growth during solidification. Microgravity environment allows for suppression of buoyancy-driven melt flow and for growth of equiaxed grains free of sedimentation and buoyancy effects. This contribution will present first experimental results obtained in microgravity using hypo-eutectic AlSi alloys in the Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) on-board the International Space Station (ISS). The analysis of the experiments confirms the existence of a columnar to equiaxed transition, especially in the refined alloy. Temperature evolution and grain structure analysis provide critical values for the position, the temperature gradient and the solidification velocity at the columnar to equiaxed transition. These data will be used to improve modeling of solidification microstructures and grain structure on different lengths scales.
Solidification benchmark experiments on columnar and equiaxed dendritic growth, as well as the columnar-equiaxed transition have been carried out under diffusion-dominated conditions for heat and mass transfer in a low-gravity environment. The system under investigation is the transparent organic alloy system Neopentylglycol-37.5wt.-%(d)Camphor, processed aboard a TEXUS sounding rocket flight. Solidifications was observed by standard optical methods in addition to measurements of the thermal fields within the sheet like experimental cells of 1 mm thickness. The dendrite tip kinetic, primary dendrite arm spacing, temporal and spatial temperature evolution, columnar tip velocity and the critical parameters at the CET have been analysed. Here we focus on a detailed comparison of the experiment "TRACE" with a 5-phase volume averaging model to validate the numerical model and to give insight into the corresponding physical mechanisms and parameters leading to CET. The results are discussed in terms of sensitivity versus numerical parameters.
