Seaweed to Dendrite Transition in Directional Solidification

Nikolas Provatas, Quanyong Wang, Mikko Haataja, and Martin Grant

Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 155502 – Published 10 October 2003

Abstract

We simulate directional solidification using a phase-field model solved with adaptive mesh refinement. For small surface tension anisotropy directed at 45° relative to the pulling direction we observe a crossover from a seaweed to a dendritic morphology as the thermal gradient is lowered, consistent with recent experimental findings. We show that the morphology of crystal structures can be unambiguously characterized through the local interface velocity distribution. We derive semiempirically an estimate for the crossover from seaweed to dendrite as a function of thermal gradient and pulling speed.

Received 31 May 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.155502

Authors & Affiliations

Nikolas Provatas¹, Quanyong Wang², Mikko Haataja³, and Martin Grant²

¹McMaster University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L7
²McGill University, Department of Physics, 3600 University, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3A 2T8
³Princeton University, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

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Vol. 91, Iss. 15 — 10 October 2003

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