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MSE 3231
Lecture 03

Solidification and Crystallisation

1. Heat transfer
Ref:
1 A. Ohno, The Solidification of Metals, Chijin Shokan Co. Ltd., 1976
2 J. Campbell, Castings, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1991

Topics to discuss today ….

1. Introduction
2. The ingot structure
3. Transfer of heat from liquid

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1. Introduction

˜ Most metal products (except P/M and electroplated products)

undergo solidification at some stages of their manufacturing.

˜ The structure formed immediately after solidification determines

the properties of the final products.

˜ Defects formed at this stage cannot be eliminated

during subsequent operations (forging, heat treatment etc.).

˜ There are two types of solidification

1. Glass formation
Physical properties (e.g., viscosity) change smoothly across the solidifying region

2. Phase transition
Some physical properties (such as viscosity, heat capacity) change abruptly

Liquid è Glass Liquid è Crystal

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crystal

Density
Temperature
latent heat
liquid
glass
Tm crystal
liquid
glass

Time Tm Temperature
Viscosity

glass

crystal
Tm Temperature

Polycrystalline
Single crystal (one seed only)

Nanostructured material

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2. The ingot structure

q Various types of structures formed during freezing of molten metal
depending on the
1. Amount and properties of solute in liquid
2. Properties, size and shape of the mould
3. Pouring temperature and technique

Possible ingot structures in pure metals and in alloys

(a) (b) (c) (d)

columnar grains columnar grains & fine equiaxed chill grains, equiaxed grains
only equiaxed grains at columnar grains & equiaxed only
the centre grains at the centre

Structures shown in (b) and (c)

q Most common
q Seldom homogeneous;
contains segregation defects

Structures shown in (d)

q Most desirable
q Random orientation
q Homogeneous and isotropic properties
q Most suitable for subsequent fabrication work (rolling, etc.)

Knowledge on how the structure is formed and

on the techniques of controlling structure is important

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3. Transfer of heat from liquid

˜ The liquid metal must loose

heat first before it solidifies. Tm
random fluctuation
as a result of
˜ The hot molten liquid takes time convection
to loose its heat and solidify. DT

˜ Resistances to heat flow :

1. The liquid T0 air gap
2. The solidified metal
3. The metal-mould interface mould solid liquid
metal metal
4. The mould surroundings
5. The surroundings of mould
temperature profile across a casting
freezing in a mould

˜ In nearly all cases, resistance (1) offered by liquid is negligible

due to bulk flow of liquid metal by forced convection during filling and
thermal convection during cooling
the turbulent flow and mixing quickly transport heat and so smooth out the
temperature gradient
this happens quickly as the bulk flow of liquid is fast compared to diffusion
process in solids which controls the other resistances

˜ In many cases, resistance (5) offered by the surroundings is also

negligible in practice
for normal sand mould, the atmosphere does not affect solidification as the
outer surface of the mould hardly warm by the time casting solidified inside
exceptions: thin-walled moulds (e.g., investment/shell moulding),
metal dies (cool faster when the back of the dies are cooled by water)

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˜ Major fundamental resistance to heat flow from castings

are items (2), (3) and (4).
all of these resistances can be simulated with varying degree of success
by different software
but the problem is both physically and mathematically complex, especially
for castings of complex geometry

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Resistance (2): the casting

˜ Applicable in cases when less conductive metals are cast in more conductive moulds
§ Pb-Sb alloy into steel dies (battery grids & terminals)
§ steel into a copper mould
§ wax patterns for investment casting into metal dies
§ plastics in metal die for plastics industry

For unidirectional transient heat flow

¶ T = a ¶ 2T
as= thermal diffusivity of solid
¶t s ¶ x2

Using boundary conditions (x=0, T=T0 ; x=S, T=Tm) ,

the solution is

S = a Ö t -b (constants a »25 mm s–1/2, b »3 mm)

S =Thickness Solidified

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Resistance (3): the metal-mould interface

˜ Applicable to cases when both casting and mould are conductive

§ use of insulating mould coat in die casting of light alloys
§ formation an air gap as the casting cools and shrinks away from the mould

Air Gap Formation

• As the casting cools and the mould heats up, the two remain in good thermal contact
while the interface is still in liquid condition.
• When casting starts to solidify, it rapidly gains strength and contracts away from the
mould. In turn, the mould expands as its temperature rises.

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For unidirectional heat flow, rate of heat released during solidification of a casting
of density rs and latent heat L

q = -rs L A¶ S The heat transfer coefficient, h,

¶t across the metal/mould
interface is simply defined as
The heat transfer coefficient h for a sufficiently large mould the rate of transfer of energy, q,
across unit area of the interface,
q per unit temperature difference
h= -
A (Tm – T0) across the interface

The total transfer of heat across

Equating and integrating from S = 0 at t = 0 gives the interface may be written as
the sum of three components:
h (Tm – T0)
ht = hs + h g + hr
S = t
rs L
where hsis the conduction
through the solid contacts, hg is
For simple-shaped castings, S may be generalised to the conduction through the gas
modulus (or, V/A ratio) to calculate the solidification time phase, and hr is that transferred
by radiation.
rs L V
tf =
h (Tm – T0) A

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Resistance (4): the mould

˜ Applicable to cases when the mould is relatively insulating compared to the casting

¶ T = a ¶ 2T
For unidirectional transient heat flow
¶t m ¶ x2

2 Tm – T0
The final solution to this differential equation is S= ÖKmrmcm Ö t
Öp rs L

(Kmrmcm )½ = heat diffusivity, a measure

of the rate of heat absorbed bythe mould

Replacing S with V/A for simple-shaped castings,

we have the well-known Chvorinov’s Rule for determining the solidification time

tf = B (V/A)2 B = constant for a given metal-mould system and mould

temperature (its value varies from 1.5 to 2.0)

§ most accurate for the highly conducting non-ferrous metals

§ less good for iron and steel
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˜ Chvorinov’s rule is one of the most useful guides to the casting designer.
• It provides a powerful general method of tackling the feeding of castings to ensure
their soundness.
• Since a feeder and a casting are both within the same mould and fill with the same
metal under the same conditions, Chvorinov’s rule can be used to ensure that the
casting will solidify before the feeder by designing a feeder with a higher modulus
than the casting.

˜ Chvorinov’s rule has some limitations:

• It is an application of one-dimensional analytical model into a three-dimensional actual
casting.
• Shape has a definite effect on the solidification time and the actual solidification time.

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Next Class
MSE 3231, Lecture 04

Solidification and Crystallisation

2. Nucleation and growth of solid

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