Effect of process parameters on the solidification process of electron beam cold hearth melting

doi:10.11996/JG.j.2095-302X.2025040883

Abstract

Abstract:

In the process of casting TC4 titanium ingots in an electron beam cooled bed melting furnace (EB furnace), precise control of process parameters is essential for the final quality of the titanium ingots. To address the possible quality problems in this process, the finite element method was used to calculate and analyze the solidification process of TC4 titanium ingot in EB furnace in detail, and the morphology of the molten pool of titanium ingot was studied under different pouring temperatures and different pouring speeds. The results showed that increasing the pouring temperature led to the increase of the liquidus and solidus depth of TC4 titanium ingots, which enhanced the fluidity, promoted the uniform distribution of grains, and reduced the width between the solids and liquids and the time of solid-liquid coexistence. Increasing the pouring speed enlarged the depth and width of the melt pool, expanded the paste zone, decreased the temperature gradient, lowered the solid-state ratio, and reduced the grain uniformity. In addition, this study provided theoretical support for the optimization of process parameters for electron beam cooled bed melting of TC4 titanium ingots, demonstrating that reasonable control of these two parameters could improve the solidification structure and performance of titanium ingots.

Key words: solidification process, morphological characteristics, width of the paste zone, process parameters, simulation studies

CLC Number:

TG243

RAN Hang, LIU Yu, XIAO Junhao, ZHAO Bing. Effect of process parameters on the solidification process of electron beam cold hearth melting[J]. Journal of Graphics, 2025, 46(4): 883-887.

Figures/Tables 10

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of the melting area structure in the EB furnace

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of the melting principle in the EB furnace

Fig. 3 Anatomy of an ingot

Fig. 4 Modeling and meshing of the titanium ingot

Fig. 5 Physical properties of TC4 titanium alloy ((a) Density; (b) Thermal conductivity; (c) Heat enthalpy)

Fig. 6 Solidification diagram during the casting of TC4 titanium alloy

Fig. 7 The effect of temperature on the molten pool

Table 1 Relationship between temperature and melt pool

熔池参数	浇注温度/K
熔池参数	1973	2073	2173
液相线深度(h1)/mm	37.3	46.3	61.8
固相线深度(h2)/mm	48.1	55.2	70.2
糊状区宽度(h2-h1)/mm	10.8	8.9	8.4

Fig. 8 The effect of speed on the molten pool

Table 2 Relationship between velocity and melt pool

熔池参数	浇注速度/(m/s)
熔池参数	0.0095	0.0195	0.0300
液相线深度(h1)/mm	46.3	75.5	103.8
固相线深度(h2)/mm	55.2	92.2	110.1
糊状区宽度(h2-h1)/mm	8.9	10.3	14.1

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