Heat Transfer Analysis on the Rapid Solidification Process of Atomized Metal Droplets

분무된 금속액적의 급속응고과정에 관한 열전달 해석

A mathematical model has been developed for predicting kinematic, thermal, and solidification histories of atomized droplets during flight. Liquid droplet convective cooling, recalescence, equilibrium-state solidification, and solid-phase cooling were taken into account in the analysis of the solidification process. The spherical shell model was adopted where the heterogeneous nucleation is initiated from the whole surface of a droplet. The growth rate of the solid-liquid interface was determined from the theory of crystal growth kinetics with undercooling caused by the rapid solidification. The solid fraction after recalescence was obtained by using the integral method. The thermal responses of atomized droplets to gas velocity, particle size variation, and degree of undercooling were investigated through the parametric studies. It is possible to evaluate the solid fraction of the droplet according to flight distance and time in terms of a dimensionless parameter derived from the overall energy balance of the system. It is also found that the solid fraction at the end of recalescence is not dependent on the droplet size and nozzle exit velocity but on the degree of subcooling.