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<p>The lack of a thorough understanding of the solidification behaviors of the proeutectic Al₃Sc and the Al-Al₃Sc eutectic in a hypereutectic Al-Sc alloy stimulates the present dissertation. The major findings for the single-phase growth of the proeutectic Al₃Sc is summarized as follows: At a low cooling rate (~1 ºC·s^-1), the proeutectic Al₃Sc phase’s formation was governed by the lateral growth, exposing six flat {100} facets. At an intermediate cooling rate (~400 ºC·s^-1), the proeutectic Al₃Sc grew in a dendritic manner, with well-defined backbones extending in eight <111> directions and paraboloidal dendrite tips, although the dendrite tips and side-branches turned into faceted steps at a late growth stage,when the lateral growth prevailed. At a high cooling rate (~1000 ºC·s^-1), the proeutectic Al₃Sc primarily crystallized into an entirely seaweed-structured particle, which was composed of interior compact seaweeds and exterior fractal seaweeds. In order to verify the proposed dendritic and seaweed growth mechanisms for the proeutectic Al₃Sc, various morphological stability criteria were used, and fair agreement between the observed and the estimated characteristic length scales was reached.</p><p>On the Al-Al₃Sc eutectic side, it was found that a rod-typed Al₃Sc eutectic phase prevalently existed in an as-cast hypereutectic Al-Sc alloy that solidified via both slow cooling in air (~1 ºC·s⁻¹) and rapid cooling in a wedge-shaped copper mold (up to ~3000 ºC·s⁻¹). Al-Al₃Sc eutectic dendrites were identified within a narrow region near the edge of the wedge. The eutectic dendrites had an equiaxed dendritic contour and a rod eutectic structure inside. Quantitative assessments revealed that an interface undercooling of 48.2 ºC was required to form the eutectic dendrites, or in other words, to enter the coupled zone of the Al-Al₃Sc phase diagram. Furthermore, a phenomenon of scientific interest was discussed: When crystallizing under a near-equilibrium condition, the eutectic Al₃Sc phase formed a non-faceted morphology, in contradiction to its faceted nature. Based on the competitive growth criterion, it was deduced that the non-faceting of the eutectic Al₃Sc phase essentially reduced the interface undercooling for the resultant regular eutectic, in comparison to an otherwise irregular eutectic that would contain a faceted eutectic Al₃Sc phase.</p>

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The thesis work consists of two parts. First, the development of two-dimensional numerical models of a Bridgman unidirectional solidification furnace, and second, the construction work of the furnace at KTH. The aim is to build a Bridgman furnace which is capable of close control over temperature gradient and growth rate such that the solidification structures of a duplex stainless steel (SAF2507) could be replicated at a laboratory scale for different cooling rates.Two numerical models of Bridgman furnace are created using COMSOL Multiphysics. The models are used as predictive tools to simulate the locations of solidification front and the temperature gradients at the solidification fronts, which are parameters difficult to access during experiments. Different hot zone temperatures of the furnace (1500~1550 °C) and different sample pulling rates (0.5~10 mm/s) are studied in simulations. The major finding from modeled results is that the temperature gradient of the sample at the solidification fronts range from 5 ~ 17 K/mm, which are lower than the furnace temperature gradient of ~50 K/mm. The corresponding steady-state cooling rates range between 5 ~ 85 K/s. The next step is to validate the models with experimental temperature profiles of the furnace, and decide whether the furnace design should be modified to achieve the cooling rates of interests. / Examensarbetet består av två delar. Först utvecklingen av tvådimensionella numeriska modeller av en Bridgman enkelriktad stelningsugn, och för det andra konstruktionsarbetet för ugnen vid KTH. Syftet är att bygga en Bridgman-ugn som har förmåga att kontrollera temperaturgradienten och tillväxthastigheten så att stelningsstrukturerna i ett duplex-rostfritt stål (SAF2507) skulle kunna replikeras i laboratorieskala för olika kylningshastigheter. Två numeriska modeller av Bridgman-ugnen skapas med COMSOL Multiphysics. Modellerna används som prediktiva verktyg för att simulera placeringen av stelningsfronten och temperaturgradienterna vid stelningsfronterna, vilket är parametrar som är svåra att komma åt under experiment. Olika varmzonstemperaturer i ugnen (1500~1550 °C) och olika provdragningshastigheter (0.5~10 mm/s) studeras i simuleringar. Det viktigaste fyndet från modellerade resultat är att provets temperaturgradient vid stelningsfronterna sträcker sig från 5 ~17 K/mm, vilket är lägre än ugns temperaturgradient på ~ 50 K/mm. Motsvarande stabilitetskylningshastigheter varierar mellan 5 ~ 85 K/s. Nästa steg är att validera modellerna med experimentella temperaturprofiler för ugnen och bestämma om ugnsutformningen ska modifieras för att uppnå intressens kylningshastigheter.

Castings of aluminum alloys are widely used in the automotive and aerospace industries since they play a significant role in improving the performance and fuel efficiency. In aluminum industries, sampling is the most common method to evaluate the inclusion levels which is a key indicator for the quality of the aluminum alloys. Since how the filling process and solidification process will influence the inclusion characteristics during the sampling procedure is of great importance, the objectives of this work is to create a the two-phase flow model to simulate the filling process and solidification process, as well as calculate the particles movement in the whole sampling procedure. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling was used and this work was performed in the software ANSYS FLUENT. A numerical two dimensional (2D) axisymmetric model was built to simulate the sampling procedure with the assumption that the filling could be done along the main axis automatically. First, the initial solidification during the filling was taken into account without particle injection. The realizable k − ε turbulence model was used to model the effects of the turbulence. Several simulations with different inlet filling rate, different initial filling temperature and different inlet diameter was calculated to see the influence on the solidification behavior. Then, the whole sampling system was modeled with particle injection. The Discrete Phase Model (DPM) was used to simulate the particle motion in the melt and the focus was on the influence of the initial solidification on the inclusion distributions. Finally, the optimal sampling position inside the aluminum sampler mold was calculated. / Gjutningar av aluminiumlegeringar används ofta inom bil-, och flygindustrin eftersom de spelar en viktig roll för att förbättra prestanda och bränsleeffektivitet. Inom aluminiumindustrin är provtagning den vanligaste metoden att utvärdera mängden inneslutningar i smältan, vilket är en nyckelindikator för kvaliteten på aluminiumlegeringarna. Eftersom både fyllnads- och stelningsprocessen kommer att påverka inneslutningskarakteristiken är provtagningsproceduren av stor betydelse. Syftet med detta arbete är att skapa en två-fasflödesmodell för att simulera fyllnings-, och stelningsprocessen, samt att beräkna partikelrörelserna under provtagningsförfarandet. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modellering användes och arbetet har utfördes med mjukvaran ANSYS FLUENT. En numerisk tvådimensionell (2D) axisymmetrisk modell byggdes för att simulera provtagningsproceduren med antagandet att påfyllningen kan göras automatiskt längs huvudaxeln. Till att börja med betraktades det första stelnandet under fyllningen utan partikelinjektion. En antagen k - ε turbulensmodell användes för att modellera effekten av turbulens. Flera simuleringar med olika inloppshastighet, påfyllningstemperatur och inloppsdiametrar beräknades för att se påverkan på stelningsbeteendet. Därefter modellerades hela provtagningsmodellen med partikelinjektion. En Diskret Fasmodell (DPM) användes för att simulera partikelrörelsen i smältan och fokus var inverkan av det initiala stelnandet på inneslutningsfördelningen. Slutligen beräknades den optimala provtagningspositionen inuti aluminiumprovformen.

<p>  </p> <p>Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is a relatively young metallurgical processing method which has many advantages over traditional casting and wrought based methods. Alloy systems suitable for this additive manufacturing (AM) process include Ti-6Al-4V, 316 stainless steel, Inconel 718 and 625 making it attractive for automotive, aerospace, and biomedical applications. Despite the potential, L-PBF is plagued by defects and inconsistent build qualities which make certification of critical components onerous. Additionally, experimental studies are difficult due to the cost of laser systems and feedstock material. Many researchers have turned to computational modeling as this allows for rigorous examination and isolation of the underlying physics to better understand where problems may arise, and where improvements can be made. However, models often fail to consider the role of systematic and statistical uncertainty while also relying heavily on assumptions and simplifications for computational efficiency. As such, there is no quantifiable metric for how reliable these models are. This work applies an uncertainty quantification (UQ) framework to computational models for L-PBF to understand the role of uncertainty and assumptions on model reliability as this provides insight into their limitations and potential areas of improvement.</p> <p>First, the UQ framework is applied to a finite volume melt pool transport model to evaluate the role of uncertainty and model assumptions on melt pool shapes and solidification dynamics. This includes the role of simulating the powder bed thermophysical properties, surface tension driven Marangoni convection, and the thermodynamic relation dictating latent heat release. The transport model is then weakly coupled to a cellular automata (CA) grain evolution model to propagate and quantify the uncertainty in the as-built microstructure including crystallographic texture formation. Further propagation of melt pool and microstructure uncertainty to the resulting mechanical properties to close the process-microstructure-property relations are discussed. Lastly, recommendations for future model development and research are presented. </p>

This thesis explores the formation of segregation and inclusions during solidification of steel and cast iron. A better understanding of the formation mechanism should result in decreasing fraction of defects during solidification of ingot and strand material. Density driven macrosegregation was studied both experimentally and theoretically to see the effect of channel segregation on the total segregation. Formation of these pencil-like segregations is due to natural convection in the solidifying metal caused by liquid enrichment of elements with lower density compared to the bulk. It is suggested to change the composition to compensate for this density difference. Inclusion precipitation can be finite by limitations in segregation. Saturated liquid is found in the last solidified areas, often between dendrites. Here the enrichment of the liquid is possible due to microsegregation. Meanwhile crystals form and solidify the elements with low solubility in the solid is pushed out in the remaining liquid. Soon the liquid is saturated to the level where spontaneous formation of inclusions occurs. Microstructure studies by aid of SEM and micro-probe measurements are analysed to find at what point during solidification process the inclusions start to form. In steel making this formation has a detrimental effect on the mechanical properties in contrary to the production of nodular cast iron where the inclusions have a beneficial effect on the graphite formation. Inoculation of cast iron aims at reaching higher number density of graphite nodules, nodule morphology modification and control of nodule distribution during solidification. Late precipitation of nucleation sites has shown to have a positive impact on preventing chill. To find the most potent inoculation agent different additives were tested. Special effort has been made to analyse the effect of oxides and sulphides as nucleation sites. / QC 20101102