Freckle formation in a solidifying binary alloy (Q1392859)

The author considers the effect of solutal convection on the unidirectional solidification of a binary alloy cooled from below. It is reported that soon after the onset of solidification a mushy region forms, and the process is accompanied by vigorous convection in the molten alloy above. In contrast, the fluid in the mush appears to be unaffected by the neighbouring flow and remains essentially quiescent. The author examines the nonlinear convective stability of the mush and formulates a criterion for channelling in the mush. Stable weakly nonlinear solutions are derived for convection in the solidifying mushy layer which predict the onset of freckling, but only outside the range of validity of asymptotic expansions. The alloy model is solved numerically using a front fixing transformation. The author examines the evolution of the streamfunction and mass fraction and describes the onset of convection in the mush in terms of the mush Rayleigh number. The results are compared with linear stability theory and experimental data. The onset of freckling is also described in terms of a Rayleigh number which is sensitive to initial conditions.