Simulations of the initial transient during directional solidification of multicomponent alloys using the phase field method

This paper presents simulations of directional solidification of multicompo nent alloys using the phase field method. In order to calculate thermodynam ic quantities of the alloy, the phase held model has been coupled to multic omponent thermodynamic databases in an 'online' mode using the TQ-Interface of the software Thermo-Gale. Simulations of directional solidification of several alloys from the Ni-Al-Cr-Co-Ti system are presented for different p ulling speeds. The results predict oscillations of the solidification veloc ity and the element concentrations evolving in the course of the initial tr ansient as has been analytically shown for binary systems. In multicomponen t systems these oscillations not only depend on the pulling speed but also on alloy composition.