Strip casting of Al–Pb alloys — a numerical analysis

A numerical model describing the microstructural evolution of strip cast immiscible alloys is presented. The numerical results for Al–Pb-type bearing alloys show that in strip casting a constitutional supercooling region exists in front of the solid/liquid interface where liquid/liquid decomposition takes place. A higher solidification velocity leads to a higher nucleation rate and, therefore, to a higher number density of the minority phase droplets. As a result, the average radius of droplets in the melt at the solid/liquid interface decreases with the solidification velocity. The numerical model is compared with experimental results.