Experimental study of the solidification of Sn-10Â wt.%Pb alloy under different forced convection in benchmark experiment

The originality of the present study is to examine the effect of various types of forced convection driven by a traveling magnetic field (TMF). Three cases of TMF were investigated: in the same direction as natural convection, reversed with respect to natural convection, and periodically reversed with a modulation frequency equal to 0.125 Hz. This study allows us to evaluate the evolution due to the forced convection induced by a TMF field, as well as its influence on the initial conditions, the solidification macrostructure and the segregation behavior. While forced convection promotes equiaxed structures, the stirring pattern influences grain size according to its direction with respect to natural convection. The results show that all electromagnetic stirring modes effectively reduce macrosegregations significantly, while remaining inactive for reducing development of segregated channels.