A quantitative phase-field model is developed for simulating microstructural pattern formation in nonisothermal solidification in dilute multicomponent alloys with arbitrary thermal and solutal diffusivities. By performing the matched asymptotic analysis, it is shown that the present model with antitrapping current terms reproduces the free-boundary problem of interest in the thin-interface limit. Convergence of the simulation outcome with decreasing the interface thickness is demonstrated for nonisothermal free dendritic growth in binary alloys and isothermal and nonisothermal free dendritic growth in a ternary alloy.

• Received 30 July 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.051603