A Modified Cellular Automaton Method for the Modeling of the Dendritic Morphology of Binary Alloys

A cellular automaton (CA)-based model for the precise two-dimensional simulation of the dendritic morphology of cast aluminum alloys was developed. Compared with previous CA models, the new model considers the solidification process in more detail, solving the solute and heat conservation equations in the modeling domain, including calculation of the solid fraction, the tip velocity, and the solute diffusion process, all of which have significant influence on the dendrite evolution. The rotating grids technique was used in the simulation to avoid anisotropy introduced by the square grid. Dendritic grain profiles for different crystallographic orientations show the existence of a great number of regular and parallel secondary and tertiary arms. The simulation results for the secondary arm spacing and grain size were compared with experimental data and with results reported in the literature. A good agreement was found between the simulated results and the experimental data. It can be concluded that the model can be used to predict the dendritic microstructure of aluminum alloy in a quantitative manner.