Solidification in spray forming

Solidification in spray forming takes place in two distinct steps: typically half of the alloy latent heat is removed rapidly from the droplet spray created by gas atomization; the droplets are then constituted into a billet at deposition where the remaining liquid fraction solidifies relatively slowly. However, within the droplet spray, individual droplets have different thermal and solidification histories and depositing droplets may be solid, mushy, or liquid. Despite many studies of solidification behavior in spray forming, uncertainties and some misconceptions remain on how the solidification conditions in the spray and billet interact to give rise to the characteristic spray-formed microstructure comprising refined, polygonal/equiaxed primary grains with low levels of microsegregation. This article presents a simple numerical model for the spray-formed grain size arising from the deposition of the various droplets in the spray and combines insights provided by the model with previous investigations of the phenomena occurring during and immediately after deposition to propose a comprehensive description of the important solidification behavior during spray forming. Remelting, grain multiplication, thermal and elemental equilibration, and microstructural coarsening are proposed to play a critical role in the evolution of the spray-formed microstructure.