Revealing the Heterogeneous Nucleation and Growth Behaviour of Grains in Inoculated Aluminium Alloys During Solidification

Abstract

An in situ X-ray radiographic study on the grain nucleation and grain growth of inoculated Al–10Cu and Al–20Cu alloys during isothermal melt solidification and directional solidification conditions with constant cooling rates has been carried out. The influence of additional level of inoculation particles, cooling rates, and temperature gradient on the nucleation rate and growth kinetics of grains have been quantitatively studied. The deterministic nature of the heterogeneous nucleation of aluminium grain on inoculant particles is revealed. Numerical microstructure models have been developed to simulate the nucleation and growth behavior of aluminum grains and a good agreement between the experimental results and simulation results have been achieved.