Parallel-GPU-accelerated adaptive mesh refinement for three-dimensional phase-field simulation of dendritic growth during solidification of binary alloy

In the phase-field simulation of dendrite growth during the solidification of an alloy, the computational cost becomes extremely high when the diffusion length is significantly larger than the curvature radius of a dendrite tip. In such cases, the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method is effective for improving the computational performance. In this study, we perform a three-dimensional dendrite growth phase-field simulation in which AMR is implemented via parallel computing using multiple graphics processing units (GPUs), which provide high parallel computation performance. In the parallel GPU computation, we apply dynamic load balancing to parallel computing to equalize the computational cost per GPU. The accuracy of an AMR refinement condition is confirmed through the single-GPU computations of columnar dendrite growth during the directional solidification of a binary alloy. Next, we evaluate the efficiency of dynamic load balancing by performing multiple-GPU parallel computations for three different directional solidification simulations using a moving frame algorithm. Finally, weak scaling tests are performed to confirm the parallel efficiency of the developed code.

Influence of Cooling Scenarios on the Evolution of Microstructures in Nickel-Based Single Crystal Superalloys

The reprecipitation and evolution of γ’ precipitates during various cooling approaches from supersolvus temperature are studied experimentally and via phase field simulation in nickel-based single crystal superalloys. The focus of this paper is to explore the influence of cooling methods on the evolution of the morphology and the distribution of γ’ precipitates. It is demonstrated that small and uniform spherical shape γ’ particles formed with air cooling method. When the average cooling rate decreases, the particle number decreases while the average matrix and precipitate channel widths increase. The shape of γ’ precipitates which changed from spherical to cubic and irregular characteristics due to the elastic interaction and elements diffusion are observed with the decrease of the average cooling rate. The phase field simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results in this paper. The research is a benefit for the study of the rejuvenation heat treatment in re-service nickel-based superalloys.

Coarse Columnar Dendrites of GH3039 Nickel-Based Alloy at Diverging Grain Boundaries during Wire and Laser Additive Manufacturing: A Phase Field Simulation

Coarse columnar dendrite greatly reduced the mechanical performance of GH3039 nickel-based alloy in the additive manufactured parts, which limited its application in the engineering fields. This study provides a comparison of overgrowth behaviors at diverging grain boundaries through two-dimensional phase field simulation, and the effect of dendrite orientation on overgrowth behavior was analyzed. Moreover, our results show that the primary spacing becomes larger as the increasing of dendrite orientation. The columnar dendrites branch new dendrites near grain boundaries to refine the primary arm spacing in the process of wire and laser additive manufacturing (WLAM).