Analysis of gravity effects during binary alloy directional solidification by comparison of microgravity and Earth experiments with in situ observation.

Under terrestrial conditions, solidification processes are influenced to a large degree by the gravity effects such as natural convection or buoyancy force, which can dramatically modify the final characteristics of the grown solid. In the last decades, the coupling of in situ observation of growth from the melt, that enables the study of microstructure formation dynamics, and microgravity experimentation, that allows to approach diffusive conditions, has been implemented for both transparent and metallic materials. The results of these investigations enable to test the validity of advanced solidification theories, to validate or develop numerical models and sometimes to reveal unexpected phenomena. The aim of this paper is to present a selection of conclusive experiments obtained with this combined approach in our group to highlight the gravity effects by a comparative study of experiments carried out on earth and in microgravity conditions.

Cell invasion during competitive growth of polycrystalline solidification patterns.

Spatially extended cellular and dendritic array structures forming during solidification processes such as casting, welding, or additive manufacturing are generally polycrystalline. Both the array structure within each grain and the larger scale grain structure determine the performance of many structural alloys. How those two structures coevolve during solidification remains poorly understood. By in situ observations of microgravity alloy solidification experiments onboard the International Space Station, we have discovered that individual cells from one grain can unexpectedly invade a nearby grain of different misorientation, either as a solitary cell or as rows of cells. This invasion process causes grains to interpenetrate each other and hence grain boundaries to adopt highly convoluted shapes. Those observations are reproduced by phase-field simulations further demonstrating that invasion occurs for a wide range of misorientations. Those results fundamentally change the traditional conceptualization of grains as distinct regions embedded in three-dimensional space.

Oscillatory-nonoscillatory transitions for inclined cellular patterns in three-dimensional directional solidification.

The oscillatory behavior of cellular patterns produced by directional solidification of a transparent alloy under microgravity conditions was recently observed to depend on the misorientation of the main crystal axis with respect to the direction of the imposed thermal gradient [Pereda et al., Phys. Rev. E 95, 012803 (2017)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.95.012803]. To characterize the oscillatory-nonoscillatory transition resulting from the variations of the crystal misorientation, new experiments performed in DECLIC-DSI onboard the International Space Station and phase-field simulations are analyzed and combined in the present study. Experimental results are extracted from movies showing regions that extend on both sides of a boundary between two grains with respective misorientations of roughly 3 and 7 degrees. A set of tools are developed to analyze the experimental data and the same analysis is reproduced for the numerical data. A number of points are addressed in the simulations, like the effects of the system dimensions. The oscillatory state is found to be favored by the increase of the geometrical degrees of freedom. In bulk samples, a good agreement is found between the experimental and the numerical oscillatory-nonoscillatory threshold given by the ratio of the drift time to the oscillation period at the transition. The existence and the origin of bursts of localized groups of oscillating cells within a globally nonoscillatory pattern are characterized. A qualitative description of the physical mechanism that governs the oscillatory-nonoscillatory transition is provided.

Cumulative mechanical moments and microstructure deformation induced by growth shape in columnar solidification.

The dynamical interaction between columnar interface microstructure and self-stress, resulting in unforeseen mechanical deformation phenomena, is brought to light by means of in situ and real-time synchrotron x-ray topography during directional solidification of dilute aluminum alloys. Beyond long-known local mechanical stresses, global mechanical constraints are found to be active. In particular, column rotation results from deformation caused by the mechanical moments associated with the very growth shape, namely, the cumulative torque acting together with the cumulative bending moment under gravity. A basic model allowing for a qualitative explanation of the observed distinctive features of the self-stress effects on microstructure dynamics is proposed.