Gibbs–Thomson Effect on Spherical Solidification in a Subcooled Melt

Abstract

This study aims to investigate theoretically the growth of a spherical nucleus due to solidification in an infinite domain of a subcooled melt. The effects on the spherical growth due, respectively, to the subcooling, the Gibbs–Thomson condition, and the density-difference induced convection are analyzed and discussed systematically. With the Gibbs–Thomson effect considered, no exact solutions can be found easily. Thus, a binomial temperature distribution in the liquid phase is reasonably assumed to approximate the actual one with the satisfaction of the energy balance at the solidification front and other boundary conditions.