Effects of Interface Anisotropy on the Solidification Morphology of Zinc Alloys and Development of Data Assimilation for Their Estimation

The solid–liquid interface energy anisotropy of Zn alloys remains poorly understood. Recently, characteristic 14-arm dendritic growth has been observed using time-resolved X-ray computed tomography at SPring-8 during the solidification of a Zn–4mass%Al alloy. This study investigates the dependence of the dendrite morphologies of Zn alloys on solid–liquid interface energy anisotropy through systematic phase-field simulations of the growth of an isolated equiaxed dendrite. We also develop a data assimilation system to estimate the anisotropy parameters of solid–liquid interface energy and crystal orientation in Zn alloys and validate the system through twin experiments. This study provides insights into the solidification of Zn alloys and a powerful tool for their investigation.