Modeling the evolution of equiaxed miorostructures in castings

With the goal of expanding the scope of solidification modeling, research initiatives have ranged from simply predicting the path of the isotherms to exploring the more complex problem of predicting microstructural evolution. This article presents the mathematical and physical principles involved in this type of modeling and provides examples for a number of Al-Si, Al-Cu, gray iron and ductile iron alloys. Clearly micro- and macrostructural modeling represents significant progress in the field of solidification and the subsequent cooling of castings.