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2025 №03 (06) 2025 №03 (02)

Electrometallurgy Today 2025 №03


"Suchasna Elektrometallurgiya" (Electrometallurgy Today), 2025, #3, 3-18 pages

Mathematical modeling of heat and mass exchange processes during electron beam melting of ingots of titanium alloy Ti‒6Al‒Nb

I.V. Krivtsun, S.V. Rymar, R.S. Gubatyuk, V.O. Berezos, D.S. Akhonin, R.V. Selin

E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NAS of Ukraine 11 Kazymyr Malevych Str., 03150, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: elmag@paton.kiev.ua

Abstract
The results of mathematical modeling of temperature fields and hydrodynamic laminar flows of liquid metal during electron beam melting of titanium alloy ingots are presented. The calculations were performed using the developed three-dimensional mathematical model based on the finite element method taking into account a number of simplifications and assumptions. The model allows us to determine the regularities of thermal and hydrodynamic processes occurring in a continuous water-cooled mould during ingot melting, and the geometry of the liquidus-solidus interphase transition zone, and accordingly, of the metal crystallization front, which significantly affects the quality of the metal during ingot formation. We calculated the parameters of the melting process for ingots of a small diameter of 110 mm from medical titanium alloy Ti‒6Al‒7Nb with such a crystallization front, for which the production of high-quality metal with a homogeneous structure and a homogeneous distribution of alloying elements in the ingot volume is ensured. It was found that the heat and mass transfer in the liquid metal is significantly affected by the power of the electron beam and its distribution over the pool surface, and the heat transfer is mainly due to the movement of the melt. 30 Ref., 16 Fig.
Keywords: electron beam melting, titanium alloys, mathematical modeling, heat and mass transfer, metal crystallization front

Received: 24.06.2025
Received in revised form: 26.06.2025
Accepted: 31.07.2025

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