NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF HEAT-FLOW AND INTERFACES IN THE VERTICAL ZONE-MELTING CRYSTAL-GROWTH

Computer simulation is conducted to study vertical zone-melting crysta l growth. The model, which is governed by momentum and heat transfer i n the system, is solved by a finite volume/Newton method with an imple mentation of the pseudo-arclength continuation. Single crystal growth of NaNO3 in a computer-controlled transparent multizone furnace is sim ulated as examples. The calculated results show that natural convectio n induced by the buoyancy force affects melt-solid interfaces signific antly, which is consistent with the observation during crystal growth experiments. Along the solution branch, multiple steady states are obs erved, and they are accompanied by the inversion of the upper melt-fee d interface.