| Abstract: | We present a space–time finite element formulation to study the cooperative growth of adjacent needle-like crystals in a two-dimensional, binary melt. It is assumed that the system is isothermal and that the compositions of the melt and the crystals are different. The growth rate of the crystals is taken to be a function of the melt composition in front of the growing crystals, and the composition of the melt as a function of space and time is determined by the diffusion equation. The positions of the growth fronts of each crystal are tracked. Good agreement is found between the numerical solution of an approximated one-dimensional problem and an analytical solution. Numerical results of the simulation of the growth of isolated and adjacent crystals are presented. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
