Prospect for EPM application to environmental technology

EPM seems to have good prospects for the future not only in the materials processing but also in environmental technologies by the help of superior features like contactless processing, clean heating and melting, and good controllability. In the present paper, the authors commentate on the possibility of EPM to avoid environmental issues of energy, resources and hazardous wastes by the use of the functions of Lorentz force and Joule heating. Firstly, the present situation and future trend of electric power generation is outlined, and then some examples of the application of EPM to environmental technologies are introduced, which have been performed by the author’s group. Examples are as follows: production of spherical solar cell from a liquid jet by using intermittent electromagnetic force; fabrication of semi-solid Al-Si slurry for die-casting of vehicle-parts to reduce the weight of vehicle; electromagnetic separation of nonmetallic inclusions from liquid Al scrap and its application to the fabrication of partially particle-reinforced aluminum alloy; electromagnetic melting of hazardous wastes from power plants to stabilize wastes in glass state.

Models for magnetohydrodynamics of aluminium electrolysis cells

The electric current and the associated magnetic field in aluminium electrolysis cells create effects limiting the cell productivity and possibly cause instabilities: surface waving, ‘anode effects’, erosion of pot lining, feed material sedimentation, etc. The instructive analysis is presented via a step by step inclusion of different physical coupling factors affecting the magnetic field, electric current, velocity and wave development in the electrolysis cells. The full time dependent model couples the nonlinear turbulent fluid dynamics and the extended electromagnetic field in the cell, and the whole bus bar circuit with the ferromagnetic effects. Animated examples for the high amperage cells are presented. The theory and numerical model of the electrolysis cell is extended to the cases of variable cell bottom of aluminium layer and the variable thickness of the electrolyte due to the anode non-uniform burn-out process and the presence of the anode channels. The problem of the channel importance is well known Moreau-Evans model) for the stationary interface and the velocity field, and was validated against measurements in commercial cells, particularly with the recently published ‘benchmark’ test for the MHD models of aluminium cells [1]. The presence of electrolyte channels requires also to reconsider the previous magnetohydrodynamic instability theories and the dynamic wave development models. The results indicate the importance of a ‘sloshing’ parametrically excited MHD wave development in the aluminium production cells.

Effect of varying electromagnetic field on the VAR process

The three-dimensional, time-dependent electromagnetic field arising from the precession of the arc centre in a vacuum arc remelting furnace is shown (in a numerical simulation) to affect the fluid flow and heat transfer conditions near the solidification front in the upper part of the ingot.

Magnetic damping of levitated liquid droplets in AC and DC field

The intense AC magnetic field required to produce levitation in terrestrial conditions, along with the buoyancy and thermo-capillary forces, results in turbulent convective flow within the droplet. The use of a homogenous DC magnetic field allows the convective flow to be damped. However the turbulence properties are affected at the same time, leading to a possibility that the effective turbulent damping is considerably reduced. The MHD modified K-Omega turbulence model allows the investigation of the effect of magnetic field on the turbulence. The model incorporates free surface deformation, the temperature dependent surface tension, turbulent momentum transport, electromagnetic and gravity forces. The model is adapted to incorporate a periodic laser heating at the top of the droplet, which have been used to measure the thermal conductivity of the material by calculating the phase lag between the frequency of the laser heating and the temperature response at the bottom. The numerical simulations show that with the gradual increase of the DC field the fluid flow within the droplet is initially increasing in intensity. Only after a certain threshold magnitude of the field the flow intensity starts to decrease. In order to achieve the flow conditions close to the ‘laminar’ a D.C. magnetic field >4 Tesla is required to measure the thermal conductivity accurately. The reduction in the AC field driven flow in the main body of the drop leads to a noticeable thermo-capillary convection at the edge of the droplet. The uniform vertical DC magnetic field does not stop a translational oscillation of the droplet along the field, which is caused by the variation in total levitation force due to the time-dependent surface deformation.

Determining surface tension using DC magnetic levitation

The values of material physical properties are vital for the successful use of numerical simulations for electromagnetic processing of materials. The surface tension of materials can be determined from the experimental measurement of the surface oscillation frequency of liquid droplets. In order for this technique to be used, a positioning field is required that results in a modification to the oscillation frequency. A number of previous analytical models have been developed that mainly focus on electrically conducting droplets positioned using an A.C. electromagnetic field, but due to the turbulent flow resulting from the high electromagnetic fields required to balance gravity, reliable measurements have largely been limited to microgravity. In this work axisymmetric analytical and numerical models are developed, which allow the surface tension of a diamagnetic droplet positioned in a high DC magnetic field to be determined from the surface oscillations. In the case of D.C. levitation there is no internal electric currents with resulting Joule heating, Marangoni flow and other effects that introduce additional physics that complicates the measurement process. The analytical solution uses the linearised Navier-Stokes equations in the inviscid case. The body force from a DC field is potential, in contrast to the AC case, and it can be derived from Maxwell equations giving a solution for the magnetic field in the form of a series expansion of Legendre polynomials. The first few terms in this expansion represent a constant and gradient magnetic field valid close to the origin, which can be used to position the droplet. Initially the mathematical model is verified in microgravity conditions using a numerical model developed to solve the transient electromagnetics, fluid flow and thermodynamic equations. In the numerical model (as in experiment) the magnetic field is obtained using electrical current carrying coils, which provides the confinement force for a liquid droplet. The model incorporates free surface deformation to accurately model the oscillations that result from the interaction between the droplet and the non-uniform external magnetic field. A comparison is made between the analytical perturbation theory and the numerical pseudo spectral approximation solutions for small amplitude oscillations.

Thermoelectric MHD effects on equiaxed crystal morphology

The effects of a constant uniform magnetic field on a growing equiaxed crystal are investigated using a 3-dimensional enthalpy based numerical model. Two cases are considered: The first case looks at unconstrained growth, where the current density is generated through the thermo-electric effect and the current circulates between the tips and roots of the dendrite, the second represents an imposed potential difference across the domain. A jump in the electrical conductivity between the liquid and solid causes the current density to be non uniform. In both cases the resulting Lorentz force drives fluid flow in the liquid phase, this in turn causes advection of the thermal and solute field altering the free energy close to the interface and changing the morphology of the dendrite. In the first case the flow field is complex comprising of many circulations, the morphological changes are modelled using a 2D model with a quasi 3D approximation. The second case is comparable to classic problems involving a constant velocity boundary.

Manufacturing of uniformly-sized silicon particles for solar cell from molten metal jet by electromagnetic pinch force

Spherical silicon solar cells are expected to serve as a technology to reduce silicon usage of photovoltaic (PV) power systems[1, 2, 3]. In order to establish the spherical silicon solar cell, a manufacturing method of uniformly sized silicon particles of 1mm in diameter is required. However, it is difficult to mass-produce the mono-sized silicon particles at low cost by existent processes now. We proposed a new method to generate liquid metal droplets uniformly by applying electromagnetic pinch force to a liquid metal jet[4]. The electromagnetic force was intermittently applied to the liquid metal jet issued from a nozzle in order to fluctuate the surface of the jet. As the fluctuation grew, the liquid jet was broken up into small droplets according to a frequency of the intermittent electromagnetic force. Firstly, a preliminary experiment was carried out. A single pulse current was applied instantaneously to a single turn coil around a molten gallium jet. It was confirmed that the jet could be split up by pinch force generated by the current. And then, electromagnetic pinch force was applied intermittently to the jet. It was found that the jet was broken up into mono-sized droplets in the case of a force frequency was equal to a critical frequency[5], which corresponds to a natural disturbance wave length of the jet. Numerical simulations of the droplet generation from the liquid jet were then carried out, which consisted of an electromagnetic analysis and a fluid flow calculation with a free surface of the jet. The simulation results were compared with the experiments and the agreement between the two was quite good.

A future dynamically reconfigurable automotive software system

Embedded software systems in vehicles are of rapidly increasing commercial importance for the automotive industry. Current systems employ a static run-time environment; due to the difficulty and cost involved in the development of dynamic systems in a high-integrity embedded control context. A dynamic system, referring to the system configuration, would greatly increase the flexibility of the offered functionality and enable customised software configuration for individual vehicles, adding customer value through plug-and-play capability, and increased quality due to its inherent ability to adjust to changes in hardware and software. We envisage an automotive system containing a variety of components, from a multitude of organizations, not necessarily known at development time. The system dynamically adapts its configuration to suit the run-time system constraints. This paper presents our vision for future automotive control systems that will be regarded in an EU research project, referred to as DySCAS (Dynamically Self-Configuring Automotive Systems). We propose a self-configuring vehicular control system architecture, with capabilities that include automatic discovery and inclusion of new devices, self-optimisation to best-use the processing, storage and communication resources available, self-diagnostics and ultimately self-healing. Such an architecture has benefits extending to reduced development and maintenance costs, improved passenger safety and comfort, and flexible owner customisation. Specifically, this paper addresses the following issues: The state of the art of embedded software systems in vehicles, emphasising the current limitations arising from fixed run-time configurations; and the benefits and challenges of dynamic configuration, giving rise to opportunities for self-healing, self-optimisation, and the automatic inclusion of users’ Consumer Electronic (CE) devices. Our proposal for a dynamically reconfigurable automotive software system platform is outlined and a typical use-case is presented as an example to exemplify the benefits of the envisioned dynamic capabilities.

Optimisation modelling for design of advanced interconnects

This paper describes a computational strategy for virtual design and prototyping of electronic components and assemblies. The design process is formulated as a design optimisation problem. The solution of this problem identifies not only the design which meets certain user specified requirements but also the design with the maximum possible improvement in particular aspects such as reliability, cost, etc. The modelling approach exploits numerical techniques for computational analysis (Finite Element Analysis) integrated with numerical methods for approximation, statistical analysis and optimisation. A software framework of modules that incorporates the required numerical techniques is developed and used to carry out the design optimisation modelling of fine-pitch flip-chip lead free solder interconnects.

Comparative wetting behavior of Sn-0.7Cu and Sn-0.7Cu-0.3Ni solders on Cu and Ni substrates

Electronic packaging industries are now in great challenge to find a suitable lead-free solder as an interconnection material to replace the conventional SnPb solders. Many solders such as SnCu, SnAg, SnAgCu, SnZn, SnBi have already been proposed as the replacement but none of them has reached the physical and metallurgical properties similar to the SnPb solder. However, wetting is one of the basic problems that make the lead-free solder inferior as compared to the SnPb solder. Therefore, alloying with the help of third, fourth or fifth element is the researchers' interest to improve the wetting behavior of lead-free solders. This paper describes the comparative wetting behavior of Sn-0.7Cu and Sn-0.7Cu-0.3Ni solders on Cu and Ni substrates. Wetting balance tests were performed to assess the wetting behaviors. Three different commercial fluxes namely no-clean (NC), non-activated (R) and water soluble organic acid (WS)fluxes were used to assess the wettability for three solder bath temperatures. It was found that Sn0.7Cu-03Ni solder exhibits better wettability on Cu substrate for NC and WS fluxes whereas reverse results were found for R-type flux. In the case of Ni substrate, Sn-0.7Cu-0.3Ni solder showed better wetting behavior compared to the well-known Sn-0.7Cu solder. Among the three fluxes, R-type flux showed the worst performance. Very large contact angles were documented for both solders with this flux. Higher solder bath temperature lowered the contact angles, increased the wetting forces and enhanced the wettability. Computer modeling of wetting balance test revealed that both the wetting force and meniscus height are inversely proportional to the contact angles. Modeling results also reveal that increase in solder bath depths and radiuses do not affect significantly on the wetting behavior.