Numerical simulation of VAR for large-scale TC4 alloy during the solidification process

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional multi-physics model of the effect of process parameters on the evolution of the solid–liquid interface during solidification of large-scale Ti-6 wt% Al-4 wt% V (TC4) alloy by[Ballantyne, 1977 #483] (VAR) and a macroscopic model of grain nucleation and growth was established. The simulation results qualitatively reveal the evolution of solid–liquid interface and central cross-sectional solidification structure under various melting conditions, indicating that the melting zone depth increased while the mushy zone width and the number of grains decreased with the increase of melting power; the depth of the melting zone and the width of the mushy zone increase sharply with the increase in solidification velocity, the average grain radius increased, while the number of grains decreased; when the ingot diameter increased from 260 mm to 660 mm, the depth of the melting zone increased and gradually remained stable, and the width of the mushy zone gradually decreased.

KEYWORDS:

• Vacuum arc remelting(VAR)
• solid-liquid interface
• solidification structure
• mushy zone
• process parameters
• melting zone

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51961018) and by Yunnan Major Scientific and Technological Projects (No.202202AG050007,No.202002AB080001).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51961018) and by Yunnan Major Scientific and Technological Projects (No.202202AG050007,No.202002AB080001).