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Lecture 7 Phase Transformations in Metal and Alloys

The document discusses the solidification process of metals and alloys, emphasizing its significance in manufacturing. It details the two main steps of solidification: nucleation and growth, and explains the concepts of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. Additionally, it explores the kinetics of nucleation and the solidification of single-phase alloys under various conditions.

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Fazli subhan
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8 views

Lecture 7 Phase Transformations in Metal and Alloys

The document discusses the solidification process of metals and alloys, emphasizing its significance in manufacturing. It details the two main steps of solidification: nucleation and growth, and explains the concepts of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. Additionally, it explores the kinetics of nucleation and the solidification of single-phase alloys under various conditions.

Uploaded by

Fazli subhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PHASE

TRANSFORMATIONS
in Metal and Alloys
By Dr. Feroz Shah

Lecture No.7
Solidification
• Solidification and melting are transformations between crystallographic
and non-crystallographic states of metals and alloys

• Solidification is considered as one of the most important manufacturing


processes

• Several million pounds of steel, aluminum alloys, copper, and zinc are
being produced through the casting process

• The solidification process involves two basic steps:

I. Nucleation

II. Growth
Nucleation
• Nucleation refers to the formation of the first nanocrystallites
from molten material

• It also refers to the initial stage of formation of one phase


from another phase

• So nucleation is general and is associated with phase


transformations

• A tiny particle of solid that forms from the liquid as atoms


cluster together is known as embryo

• The embryo is unstable and may either grow into a stable


Continue
• We expect a material to solidify when the liquid cools to just below
its freezing (or melting) temperature

• Due to the effect that energy associated with the crystalline


structure of the solid is less than the energy of the liquid

• This energy difference between the liquid and the solid is the free
energy per unit volume , which is the driving force for solidification

• There are two types of nucleation:

I. Homogeneous nucleation

II. Heterogeneous nucleation


Homogeneous Nucleation

• Consider a given volume of liquid at a


temperature below with a free energy
as shown in Fig.1

• If some of the atoms of the liquid cluster


together to form a small sphere of solid,
Fig 1b

• The free energy of the system will change


to given by:
Figure 1

………… (1)
Continue

• Where is the volume of the solid sphere, the volume of liquid, is the
solid/liquid interfacial area, and are the free energies per unit volume of
solid and liquid respectively, and is the solid/liquid interfacial free energy

• The free energy of the system without any solid present is given by:

• The formation of solid therefore results in a free energy change

Where ……………………… (2)

And
Continue

• For an undercooling , is given by

…………………………. (3)

• Where is the latent heat of fusion per unit volume

• Below , is positive so that the free energy change associated


with the formation of a small volume of solid has a negative
contribution

• There is also a positive contribution due to the creation of a


solid/liquid interface
Continue
 The excess free energy associated with the
solid particle can be minimized by the correct
choice of particle shape
 For spherical shape Eq. 1 becomes

……………….. (4)
 The total free energy change is shown in Figure
2
 If the system can lower its free energy by
dissolution of the solid
 Whereas when the free energy of the system
Figure 2
Continue
• Unstable solid particles with are known as clusters or embryos

• While stable particles with are referred to as nuclei

• is known as the critical nucleus size

• Since when r = r* the critical nucleus is effectively in (unstable)


equilibrium with the surrounding liquid

• Equation 4 can be differentiated to give:


Continue

And

Substituting Equation 3 for :


……………………(7)
And
…………….. (8)
Kinetics of Homogeneous nucleation
On average the number of spherical clusters of radius r is given by:

……………….. (1)

Where is the total number of atoms in the system, is the excess free
energy associated with the cluster and is Boltzmann's constant

The probability of finding a given cluster decreases very rapidly as the


cluster size increases

Figure 3 shows the variation of volume free energies for liquid and solid
phases
Continue

Figure 4
Figure 3
Continue
If the liquid contains Co atoms per unit volume, the number of clusters
that have reached the critical size can be obtained from:

……………….. (2)

The addition of one more atom to each of these clusters will convert
them into stable nuclei and, if this happens with a frequency
Continue
The homogenous rate will be give by:

……………………. (3)

………………………. (4)

Where A

Rate of homogenous nucleation is show in


Figure 5

Figure 5
Heterogeneous nucleation

From the expression for it can be seen that if


nucleation is to be made easier at small
undercoolings the interfacial energy term must be
reduced

The total interfacial energy of the system is


minimized if the embryo has a spherical shape

The interfacial tensions balance in the plane of


mould wall

Or
Figure 6

…….. (5)
Continue

The formation of such an embryo will be


associated with an excess free energy
given by:

……. (6)

We can write it as:

…………….. (7)

Where
Figure 5

Free energies for heterogeneous and


Continue

• Variation of with undercooling


for homogeneous and
heterogeneous nucleation
with undercooling Figure 6a

• Rate of nucleation for


homogenous and
heterogeneous nucleation
Figure 6b

Figure 6
Solidification of a single phase alloy
A unidirectional
solidification and heat
transfer is shown in
Figure 7a
While a composition
profile is shown in
Figure 7b
K is the partition
coefficient

Figure 7
Continue

Let us examine three limiting cases:

1. Infinitely slow (equilibrium) solidification

2. Solidification with no diffusion in the solid but perfect


mixing in the liquid

3. Solidification with no diffusion in the solid and only


diffusional mixing in the liquid
No Diffusion in Solid, Perfect Mixing in Liquid

Figure 8
No Diffusion in Solid, Diffusional
Mixing in Liquid
Where is called the
characteristic
width or initial
transient

Figure 9

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