A study of the complex dynamics of dendrite solidification coupled to structural mechanics.

Abstract The impact of structural mechanics is often overlooked when modelling the solidification of dendritic microstructures, despite experimental observations that the interaction between these processes can be a factor leading to the development of crystal mosaicity throughout the microstructure which can itself lead to more serious defects. When considered at all, the structural mechanical behaviour of columnar dendrites is often considered as being analogous to a cantilever beam both in interpretations of experimental results and in existing numerical modelling. While this is not an unreasonable assumption when considering a dendrite in isolation, this is a scenario that infrequently occurs. In this paper a parametric study is presented using a Cellular Automata solidification solver coupled to a Finite Volume Structural Mechanics solver. These results highlight the complex non-linear behaviour that arises when considering dendrite interaction, demonstrating the significantly different microstructures that can be obtained by varying only the force experienced by the system.