K. Matsunaga1, H. Kawamura1
FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.2, No.1, pp. 59-64, 2006, DOI:10.3970/fdmp.2006.002.059
Abstract Existing studies on solidification phenomena mainly focused on the solidification processes per se. In real systems, however, one cannot neglect the effects of molten material convective flow, such as natural and thermocapillary convection (they strongly affect the resulting quality of the solidified materials). The present study aims to experimentally investigate on the effect of the thermocapillary flow upon the directional solidification in a liquid layer with a free upper surface. If no free surface exists, the solid--liquid interface (SLI) is vertical and straight, while, with the free surface, the SLI is inclined against the wall-normal More >