A quantitative multi-phase field model of polycrystalline alloy solidification

A multi-phase field model for quantitative simulations of polycrystalline solidification of binary alloys is introduced. During the free-growth stage of solidification, the model exploits the thin-interface analysis developed by Karma [3] in order to realistically capture bulk phase diffusion and the sharp interface corrections predicted by traditional models of solidification. During grain boundary coalescence, the model is constructed to reproduce the properties of repulsive grain boundaries described by Rappaz et al. [29]. The model provides a very simple mechanism for decoupling of solute and concentration fields at steady state, an important feature for calculating grain boundary energies. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.