Marangoni convection driven by thermocapillary and solutocapillary forces in the Fe-O alloy pool during the solidification or remelting process

Marangoni convection during the solidification or remelting process was investigated in a small pool of a liquid Fe-O alloy, by experiments and numerical simulations. Most of the studies of such a system, with a low Prandtl number but a high Schmidt number, have taken into account thermocapillary convection but have left the solutocapillary effect out of consideration. However, our experimental and numerical approaches revealed that solutocapillary convection also plays an important role in the generation of peculiar flow patterns with a single roll cell or two roll cells. The Marangoni convection observed was classified into at least four categories based on the thermocapillary and solutocapillary forces.     

The effects of process variables on pulsed Nd:YAG laser spot welds: Part II. AA 1100 aluminum and comparison to AISI 409 stainless steel

In this two-part article, the weldabilities of AA 1100 aluminum and AISI 409 stainless steel by the pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding process have been examined experimentally and compared. The effects of laser pulse time and power density on laser spot weld characteristics, such as weld diameter, penetration, melt area, melting ratio, porosity, and surface cratering, have been studied and explained qualitatively in relation to material-dependent variables such as absorptivity and thermophysical properties. The weldability of AISI 409 stainless steel was reported in Part I of this article. In the present article, the weldability of AA 1100 aluminum is reported and compared to that of AISI 409 stainless steel. Weld pool shapes in aluminum were found to be influenced by the mean power density of the laser beam and the laser pulse time. Both conduction-mode and keyhole-mode welding were observed in aluminum. Unlike stainless steel, however, drilling was not observed. Conduction-mode welds were produced in aluminum at power densities ranging from 3.2 to 10 GW/m². The power density required for melting aluminum was approximately 4.5 times greater than stainless steel. The initial transient in weld pool development in aluminum occurred within 2 ms, and the aspect ratios (depth/width) of the steady-state conduction-mode weld pools were approximately 0.2. These values are about half those observed in stainless steel. The transition from conduction- to keyhole-mode welding occurred in aluminum at a power density of about 10 GW/m², compared to about 4 GW/m² for stainless steel. Weld defects such as porosity and cratering were observed in both aluminum and stainless steel spot welds. In both materials, there was an increased propensity for large occluded vapor pores near the root of keyhole-mode welds with increasing power density. In aluminum, pores were observed close to the fusion boundary. These could be eliminated by surface milling and vacuum annealing the specimens, suggesting that such pores were due to hydrogen. Finally, excellent agreement was obtained between experimental data from both alloys and an existing analytical model for conduction-mode laser spot welding. Two nondimensional parameters, the Fourier number and a nondimensional incident heat flux parameter, were derived and shown to completely characterize weld pool development in conduction-mode welds made in both materials.     

Geometry of laser spot welds from dimensionless numbers

Recent computer calculations of heat transfer and fluid flow in welding were intended to provide useful insight about weldment geometry for certain specific welding conditions and alloys joined. However, no generally applicable correlation for the joining of all materials under various welding conditions was sought in previous work. To address this difficulty, computer models of fluid flow and heat transfer were used for the prediction of weld pool geometry in materials with diverse properties, such as gallium, pure aluminum, aluminum alloy 5182, pure iron, steel, titanium, and sodium nitrate under various welding conditions. From the results, a generally applicable relationship was developed between Peclet (Pe) and Marangoni (Ma) numbers. For a given material, Ma and Pe increased with the increase in laser power and decrease in beam radius. For materials with high Prandtl number (Pr), such as sodium nitrate, the Pe and Ma were high, and heat was transported primarily by convection within the weld pool. The resulting welds were shallow and wide. For low Pr number materials, like aluminum, the Pe and Ma were low in most cases, and low Pe made the weld pool deep and narrow. The cross-sectional areas of stationary and low speed welds could be correlated with welding conditions and material properties using dimensionless numbers proposed in this article.     

A comprehensive representation of transient

A general mathematical statement is presented to describe transient weldpool development. In the formulation, axi-symmetric systems are considered and allowance is made for buoyancy, surface tension, and electromagnetic forces. An extensive set of computed results is presented describing the behavior of aluminum, steel, and titanium, thus covering a broad range of thermal conductivities. These computed results are complemented with order of magnitude estimates of key process parameters, providing an improved insight into the overall system behavior. It is shown that through these order of magnitude estimates it is possible to predict conditions under which convection is important by recourse to the Peclet number and melt velocity estimates. It is shown, furthermore, that when surface tension effects are present, as may be the case for steel, these are likely to be dominant in determining the melt velocity.     

Effect of Welding Speed on Gas Metal Arc Weld Pool in Commercially Pure Aluminum: Theoretically and Experimentally

Temperature and velocity fields, and weld pool geometry during gas metal arc welding (GMAW) of commercially pure aluminum were predicted by solving equations of conservation of mass, energy and momentum in a three-dimensional transient model. Influence of welding speed was studied. In order to validate the model, welding experiments were conducted under the similar conditions. The calculated geometry of the weld pool were in good agreement with the corresponding experimental results. It was found that an increase in the welding speed results in a decrease peak temperature and maximum velocity in the weld pool, weld pool dimensions and width of the heat-affected zone (HAZ). Dimensionless analyses were employed to understand the importance of heat transfer by convection and the roles of various driving forces in the weld pool. According to dimensionless analyses droplet driving force strongly affected fluid flow in the weld pool.     

Modeling the dynamics of magnetic semilevitation melting

In semilevitation melting, a cylindrical metal ingot is melted by a coaxial a.c. induction coil. A watercooled solid base supports the ingot, while the top and side free surface is confined by the magnetic forces as the melting front progresses. The dynamic interplay between gravity, hydrodynamic stress, and the Lorentz force in the fluid determines the instantaneous free surface shape. The coupled nonstationary equations for turbulent flow, heat with phase change, and high-frequency electromagnetic field are solved numerically for the axisymmetric time-dependent domain by a continuous mesh transformation, using a pseudospectral method. Results are obtained for the two actually existing coil configurations and several validation cases.     

Numerical Modeling of Inclusion Removal in Electromagnetic Stirred Steel Billets

To investigate the inclusion removal in billets cast under electromagnetic stirring (EMS) influence, a numerical model has been developed to compute the magnetic field, the Lorentz force, the steel flow velocities, and the particle transport within the liquid pool. The electromagnetic field was described by the Maxwell equations and the finite element method was applied using a commercial package. The turbulent fluid flow was described by the Navier‐Stokes equation and by the Reynolds Stress model and the finite volume method was applied using another numerical package. The time average of the Lorentz force was calculated in each element center and this value was applied as a body force in the Navier‐Stokes equation. The magnetic flux density profile was compared with the data obtained in the stirrer of the steel plant. The particle transport model includes the drag force, the buoyancy force and the random walk model, to include the turbulence effects on the particle trajectory. The inclusion removal was calculated and analysed in function of casting speed and stirring current for one size section of mold. The inclusions considered in the calculations have a fixed density and four values of diameter. The numerical results of the electromagnetic model are in agreement with the experimental measurements. A good relationship between the electromagnetic model and the fluid flow model could be shown. An interesting effect is the break of the rotation motion due to the EMS by the jet from the nozzle. The fraction of inclusions removed by the top surface of the mold was improved due to the EMS.     

On the calculation of the free surface temperature of gas-tungsten-arc weld pools from first principles: Part II. modeling the weld pool and comparison with experiments

By combining a mathematical model of the welding arc and of the weld pool, calculations are presented to describe the free surface temperature of weld pools for spot welding operations. The novel aspects of the treatment include the calculation of the heat and current fluxes falling on the free weld pool surface from first principles, a realistic allowance for heat losses due to vaporization, and a realistic allowance for the temperature dependence of the surface tension. The most important finding reported in this article is that the free surface temperature of weld pools appears to be limited by Marangoni convection, rather than heat losses due to vaporiza-tion. Furthermore, it was found that once thermocapillary flow can produce high enough surface velocities (>25 cm/s), the precise nature of the relationship between temperature and surface tension will become less important.     

Theoretical Investigation of the Inclined Sidewall Design on Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Forces in an Aluminum Electrolytic Cell

A mathematical model of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects in an aluminum reduction cell using numerical approximation of a finite element method is presented. In this numerical model, the magnetic field resulting from the cell cathode bus as well as the magnetic field from both downstream and upstream cells are included. The article outlines the three-dimensional simulation of Lorentz force distribution that results from current distribution in both the cathode bus and the cell linings. These forces are important in the side channel of the cell as the current changes its direction because of an inclined sidewall design. Thus, the present work has two main features, which are (1) a numerical model to predict Lorentz field distribution in the electrolytic cell and (2) the influence of sidewall design on current distribution in the side channel and MHD forces. The model predicts that the magnitude of Lorentz force is at its maximum near the sidewall (i.e., along the side channel). The radial component of the Lorentz force creates a concentric rotational flow field, whereas the radial component is responsible for the metal “heave.” Results are obtained for different inclination angles (θ = 50 to 64 deg) of the sidewall insulation and at different pot-line currents (140 kA to 180 kA). The direction of the resultant Lorentz force is greatly influenced by the slope of the sidewall and is important to the convective flow of metal and bath in the cell.     

Computational modeling of stationary gastungsten-arc weld pools and comparison to stainless steel 304 experimental results

A systematic study was carried out to verify the predictions of a transient multidimensional computational model by comparing the numerical results with the results of an experimental study. The welding parameters were chosen such that the predictions of the model could be correlated with the results of an earlier experimental investigation of the weld pool surface temperatures during spot gas-tungsten-arc (GTA) welding of Type 304 stainless steel (SS). This study represents the first time that such a comprehensive attempt has been made to experimentally verify the predictions of a numerical study of weld pool fluid flow and heat flow. The computational model considers buoyancy and electromagnetic and surface tension forces in the solution of convective heat transfer in the weld pool. In addition, the model treats the weld pool surface as a truly deformable surface. Theoretical predictions of the weld pool surface temperature distributions, the cross-sectional weld pool size and shape, and the weld pool surface topology were compared with corresponding experimental measurements. Comparison of the theoretically predicted and the experimentally obtained surface temperature profiles indicated agreement within ±8 pct for the best theoretical models. The predicted surface profiles were found to agree within ±20 pct on dome height and ±8 pct on weld pool diameter for the best theoretical models. The predicted weld cross-sectional profiles were overlaid on macrographs of the actual weld cross sections, and they were found to agree very well for the best theoretical models.     

A two-dimensional transient model for convection in laser melted pool

A two-dimensional transient model for convective heat transfer and surface tension driven fluid flow is developed. The model describes the transient behavior of the heat transfer process of a stationary band source. Semi-quantitative understanding of scanning is obtained by a coordinate transformation. The non-dimensional forms of the equations are derived and four dimensionless parameters are identified, namely, Peclet number (Pe), Prandtl number (Pr), surface tension number(S), and dimensionless melting temperature(@#@ T_m ^* @#@). Their governing characteristics and their effects on pool shape, cooling rate, velocity field, and solute redistribution are discussed. A numerical solution is obtained and presented. Quantitative effects of Prandtl number and surface tension number on surface velocity, surface temperature, pool shape, and cooling rate are presented graphically. This paper is based on a presentation made at the symposium “Fluid Flow at Solid-Liquid Interfaces” held at the fall meeting of the TMS-AIME in Philadelphia, PA on October 5, 1983 under the TMS-AIME Solidification Committee.     

Crossed-Wire Laser Microwelding of Pt-10 Pct Ir to 316 LVM Stainless Steel: Part II. Effect of Orientation on Joining Mechanism

With the increasing complexity of medical devices and with efforts to reduce manufacturing costs, challenges arise in joining dissimilar materials. In this study, the laser weldability of dissimilar joints between Pt-10 pct Ir and 316 low-carbon vacuum melted (LVM) stainless steel (SS) crossed wires was investigated by characterizing the weld geometry, joint strength, morphology of weld cross sections, and differences in joining behavior, depending on which material is subject to the incident laser beam. With the Pt-Ir alloy on top, a significant amount of porosity was observed on the surface of the welds as well as throughout the weld cross sections. This unique form of porosity is believed to be a result of preferential vaporization of 316 LVM SS alloying elements that become mixed with the molten Pt-10 pct Ir during welding. The joining mechanism documented in micrographs of cross-sectioned welds was found to transition from laser brazing to fusion welding. It is inferred that the orientation of the two dissimilar metals (i.e., which material is subject to the incident laser beam) plays an important role in weld quality of crossed-wire laser welds.     

A New Model for Keyhole Mode Laser Welding Using FLUENT

Evolution of the free surface at gas?Cliquid interface during keyhole mode welding is complex and its calculation is computationally expensive. Similarly, models based on only heat conduction without considering vapour cavity and liquid convection around it, are computationally efficient but are not effective in defining the weld pool shape especially for low conducting material like steel. In the present study a useful yet computationally efficient model has been presented for keyhole mode laser welding using commercial software FLUENT. Here instead of evolving the free surface of keyhole in a rigorous way, various possible steady keyhole shapes are assumed partially based on literature evidence and subsequently their dimensions are calculated by an overall heat balance. The estimated keyhole profile is then mapped into the thermo-fluid framework of FLUENT and steady computational fluid dynamics calculations is carried out around the keyhole that is considered rigid wall at boiling temperature. Next, an optimized keyhole shape is identified by comparing the predicted fusion lines with the experimental weld fusion lines reported in literature. Finally, using this optimized keyhole shape independent predictions are made for two materials of widely different thermal conductivities, like steel and aluminum, under different operating conditions. In all cases the results of the present simulation is found to in close agreement with experimental data and even better than the model predictions reported in literature. The present model emerges as a simple yet effective model for predicting the weld bead profile encompassing wide range of materials under different operating conditions.     

Corrosion Behavior of Top and Bottom Surfaces for Single-Side and Double-Side Friction Stir Welded 7085-T7651 Aluminum Alloy Thick Plate Joints

Thick plate joints of 7085-T7451 aluminum alloy were obtained through both single-side and double-side friction stir welding (SS or DS-FSW). The chloride ions effects on the corrosion behavior of the top and bottom surfaces of the joints were examined by cyclic potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results show that the corrosion susceptibility was suppressed significantly in the weld nugget zone, while the base material and heat-affected zone were prone to be corrosion attacked. For the SS-FSWed joint, the top surface showed a higher corrosion resistance than that of the bottom surface, but the larger corrosive heterogeneity was observed between the top and bottom surfaces compared with the two welds of DS-FSWed joint, which was confirmed by the morphology of corrosion attack. A deep insight on the microstructure of the joints indicates that the intermetallic particles played a key role in the corrosion behavior of the FSWed AA7085 aluminum alloy joints in chloride solution.     

Mathematical modeling of three-dimensional heat and fluid flow in a moving gas metal arc weld pool

Mathematical models capable of accurate prediction of the weld bead and weld pool geometry in gas metal arc (GMA) welding processes would be valuable for rapid development of welding procedures and empirical equations for control algorithms in automated welding applications. This article introduces a three-dimensional (3-D) model for heat and fluid flow in a moving GMA weld pool. The model takes the mass, momentum, and heat transfer of filler metal droplets into consideration and quantitatively analyzes their effects on the weld bead shape and weld pool geometry. The algorithm for calculating the weld reinforcement and weld pool surface deformation has been proved to be effective. Difficulties associated with the irregular shape of the weld bead and weld pool surface have been successfully overcome by adopting a boundary-fitted nonorthogonal coordinate system. It is found that the size and profile of the weld pool are strongly influenced by the volume of molten wire, impact of droplets, and heat content of droplets. Good agreement is demonstrated between predicted weld dimensions and experimently measured ones for bead-on-plate GMA welds on mild steel plate.     

Dimensionless correlations for forced convection in liquid metals: Part I. single-phase flow

Two main objectives were addressed in this article. First, a dimensionless heat-transfer correlation for single-phase flow forced convection in liquid aluminum has been derived using a novel experimental method. An aluminum sphere was rotated with a specific tangential velocity in liquid aluminum. Its melting time was measured and correlated with the convective heat-transfer characteristics. The resulting correlation has the following form:

Electromagnetically Modified Filtration of Aluminum Melts—Part I: Electromagnetic Theory and 30 PPI Ceramic Foam Filter Experimental Results

In the present work, laboratory-scale continuous filtration tests of liquid A356 aluminum alloy have been performed. The tests were conducted using standard 30 PPI (pores per inch) ceramic foam filters combined with magnetic flux densities (~0.1 and 0.2 T), produced using two different induction coils operated at 50 Hz AC. A reference filtration test was also carried out under gravity conditions, i.e., without an applied magnetic field. The obtained results clearly prove that the magnetic field has a significant affect on the distribution of SiC particles. The influence of the electromagnetic Lorentz forces and induced bulk metal flow on the obtained filtration efficiencies and on the wetting behavior of the filter media by liquid aluminum is discussed. The magnitudes of the Lorentz forces produced by the induction coils are quantified based on analytical and COMSOL 4.2^® finite element modeling.     

Fluid flow and weld penetration in stationary arc welds

Weld pool fluid flow can affect the penetration of the resultant weld significantly. In this work, the computer simulation of weld pool fluid flow and its effect on weld penetration was carried out. Steady-state, 2-dimensional heat and fluid flow in stationary arc welds were computed, with three driving forces for fluid flow being considered: the buoyancy force, the electromagnetic force, and the surface tension gradient at the weld pool surface. The computer model developed agreed well with available analytical solutions and was consistent with weld convection phenomena experimentally observed by previous investigators and the authors. The relative importance of the influence of the three driving forces on fluid flow and weld penetration was evaluated, and the role of surface active agents was discussed. The effects of the thermal expansion coefficient of the liquid metal, the current density distribution in the workpiece, and the surface tension temperature coefficient of the liquid metal on weld pool fluid flow were demonstrated. Meanwhile, a new approach to free boundary problems involving simultaneous heat and fluid flow was developed, and the effort of computation was reduced significantly.