Numerical simulation of dendrite growth in nickel-based superalloy and validated by in-situ observation using high temperature confocal laser scanning microscopy

Dendritic structures are the predominant microstructural constituents of nickel-based superalloys, an understanding of the dendrite growth is required in order to obtain the desirable microstructure and improve the performance of castings. For this reason, numerical simulation method and an in-situ observation technology by employing high temperature confocal laser scanning microscopy (HT-CLSM) were used to investigate dendrite growth during solidification process. A combined cellular automaton-finite difference (CA-FD) model allowing for the prediction of dendrite growth of binary alloys was developed. The algorithm of cells capture was modified, and a deterministic cellular automaton (DCA) model was proposed to describe neighborhood tracking. The dendrite and detail morphology, especially hundreds of dendrites distribution at a large scale and three-dimensional (3-D) polycrystalline growth, were successfully simulated based on this model. The dendritic morphologies of samples before and after HT-CLSM were both observed by optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The experimental observations presented a reasonable agreement with the simulation results. It was also found that primary or secondary dendrite arm spacing, and segregation pattern were significantly influenced by dendrite growth. Furthermore, the directional solidification (DS) dendritic evolution behavior and detail morphology were also simulated based on the proposed model, and the simulation results also agree well with experimental results.