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Abstract

“Solidification” is a topic of enormous technical interest, since almost all metallic parts start their life with solidification from the melt. Moreover, the problem of selecting the scale of the solidifying microstructure is of highest theoretical interest. ‘‘Phase-field’’ has emerged as the method of choice to investigate scale selection during solidification by numerical simulation. Today it is a widely applied tool in engineering. This strange combination of basic and applied research is reviewed against its historical background: a story of failure and success. Starting from the problem, why the hardness of pearlite, a eutectoid transformation in solid state, increases with the cooling rate, the interest in scale selection is motivated. Eutectic solidification had been the first successful example where this question could be answered quantitatively. A long struggle for scale selection in dendritic growth started. Finally a new solution of the “pearlite problem” is presented using phase-field simulation revealing that transformation strain in solid must be considered to predict the correct transformation kinetics. This closes the loop of development.[1]

[1] I. Steinbach, Why Solidification? Why Phase-Field? JOM, Vol. 65, No. 9, (2013), DOI: 10.1007/s11837-013-0681-5.