Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 223, 559-565 (2014)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02109-y

Regular Article

The free growth criterion for grain initiation in TiB₂ inoculated γ-titanium aluminide based alloys

Institute of Materials Physics and Materials Technology, Hamburg University of Technology, Eißendorfer Str. 42, 21073, Germany

^a e-mail: daniel.gosslar@tuhh.de

Received: 13 December 2013
Revised: 10 January 2014
Published online: 28 February 2014

Abstract

γ-titanium aluminide (γ-TiAl) based alloys enable for the design of light-weight and high-temperature resistant engine components. This work centers on a numerical study of the condition for grain initiation during solidification of TiB₂ inoculated γ-TiAl based alloys. Grain initiation is treated according to the so-called free growth criterion. This means that the free growth barrier for grain initiation is determined by the maximum interfacial mean curvature between a nucleus and the melt. The strategy presented in this paper relies on iteratively increasing the volume of a nucleus, which partially wets a hexagonal TiB₂ crystal, minimizing the interfacial energy and calculating the corresponding interfacial curvature. The hereby obtained maximum curvature yields a scaling relation between the size of TiB₂ crystals and the free growth barrier. Comparison to a prototypical TiB₂ crystal in an as cast γ-TiAl based alloy allowed then to predict the free growth barrier prevailing under experimental conditions. The validity of the free growth criterion is discussed by an interfacial energy criterion.