Simulation of dendrite growth in ternary alloys

The conventional theory of constrained dendrite growth for binary alloys was extended to multicomponent alloys, taking into account the solute interactions in each phase. These interactions influence not only the phase equilibria between liquid and solid but also the diffusion behaviors. This is not possible for conventional methods that apply constant parameters, typically approximated from the corresponding binary systems. Their influence on the kinetics of dendrite growth was demonstrated quantitatively in Cu-Sn-Zn ternary systems. The great difference from the simulated results without solute interactions demonstrated its necessity of coupling thermodynamic databases in the simulation of solidification process.