2.6.2 Constitutional Supercooling and Effect of Cooling Rate The nature and the stability of the solid-liquid interface is predominantly controlled by the thermal and constitutional conditions, for example, constitutional supercooling, that is present at the interface. Solute is partitioned into the liquid ahead of the solidification front and correspondingly produces a variation of the liquidus temperature. As a positive temperature gradient in the liquid, a supercooled zone of liquid is produced ahead on the interface [Kou, 2003]. Triggered by compositional changes, this is known as constitutional supercooling. The criterion for constitutional supercooling for plane front stability is mathematically presented by, @.5) where Gy is the temperature gradient in the liquid, R is the solidification front growth rate, AT, is the temperature difference across the boundary layer in the equilibrium freezing range, and D, is the solute diffusion coefficient in the liquid. Figure 2.9 shows how the degree of constitutional supercooling affects the changes of solidification modes, ‘The temperature gradient and growth rate are important in the combined form of cooling rate, GR. At higher cooling rates, the solidification time is shorter resulting in finer cellular or dendritic structures [Flemings, 1974]. Consequently, the slower the cooling rate during solidification, the more time there is for coarsening of the dendrites. Figure 2.10 gives a summary on the effect of the temperature gradient and the growth rate on the solidification microstructure. The G/R ratio dictates the solidification mode whereas the product of GR controls the solidified microstructure 26size [Kou, 2003]. Alternatively, chemical composition of the weld metal also plays an important role in the solidification mode of the weld metal. Examples of C, and C./k on solidification behavior, where C, is the alloy composition and & is the partition coefficient of the alloying element, are abundant in the literature [David, S.A. etal., 2003]. 2 Equilibrium (a) Ig Planar a | 2— la Ss a L Cellular (b) fe 5 IS 5 | Columnar Fg om denarite (cy me + ~ constitutional © supercooling & 5 Equiaxed E Genante, a —M— Figure 2.9 Effect of constitutional supercooling on solidification mode: a) planar; b) cellular; c) columnar dendritic; d) equiaxed dendritic (S, L, and M denote as solid, liquid, mushy) [Kou, 2003}. DyGIR determines morphology of solidification structure GxR determines size of solidification structure ‘Temperature gradient, G Figure 2.10 Effect of temperature gradient G and growth rate R on the morphology and size of solidification microstructure [Kou, 2003). 28