Effect of Rotating Magnetic Field on Fluid Convection and Microstructure during Directional Solidification of Sn-Zn Alloy

Abstract

The solidification behaviors of Sn-Zn alloy under rotating magnetic field (RMF) with different magnetic intensities and different rotating frequencies were investigated, and the velocity of the convection induced by RMF was calculated. It is found that the trunk length of the precipitated phase reduces with the increase of magnetic intensity and rotating frequency, and the precipitated-phase distribution is more uniform. The tangential rate increases with increasing the magnetic intensity and rotating frequency, and reaches the maximum value at about 0.55r0. All the results indicate that the solidification microstructure is attributed to the effect of RMF on the nucleation, temperature fluctuation and fluid convection in the solidification process. It predicts that RMF presents obvious advantages on controlling solidification microstructure.