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Computer simulation of solidification processes—The evolution of a technology

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Abstract

The historical development of solidification modeling is traced, as applied to solidification processing. Clearly, the growth of this technology followed the computer explosion, particularly with regard to hardware. However, universities and government laboratories made substantial contributions in the software area, particularly in removing roadblocks to the further development of the technology and by creative examples. The commercial software houses have utilized these leading-edge developments, a practice continued and expanding today. Heat-transfer analyses by computer were initiated by utilizing the analog computer, which appeared to be a competing technology, but by the early 1960s, the digital computer had become the winner in larger-scale computation. A number of benchmark achievements followed over the next several decades. The evolution of this technology is documented, including predictions of solidification microstructure and resulting material properties. Future developments are projected.

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This lecture was presented to honor Edward DeMille Campbell (University of Michigan, Class of 1886), born in 1863, who was appointed Assistant Professor of Metallurgy in 1890. Dr. Campbell brought a strong interest in the study of the constitution of metals and alloys to the University of Michigan. In 1892, during a study of the composition of steel, he lost his eyesight in a laboratory explosion. Within five days, he returned to the University, and resumed his teaching and research. Over the next 30 years, he published 72 research papers, and developed a laboratory course in metallography. In 1924, working under the direction of Professor Campbell, William Fink discovered a new, tetragonal form of iron (martensite) in the first significant application of a new tool, X-ray diffraction, to physical metallurgy. It was these experiments that established the beginning of a strong tradition in physical metallurgy at the University of Michigan. In 1898, Campbell led the effort to establish Chemical Engineering at Michigan, becoming Professor of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry in 1902. In 1914, Campbell was appointed Director of the University’s Chemical Laboratory and Professor of Chemistry. Following his death in 1925, the American Society for Metals established this annual award in his name.

The Edward DeMille Campbell Memorial Lecture was established in 1926 as an annual lecture in memory of and in recognition of the outstanding scientific contributions to the metallurgical profession by a distinguished educator who was blind for all but two years of his professional life. It recognizes demonstrated ability in metallurgical science and engineering.

Robert D. Pehlke studied at the University of Michigan, B.S.E. (Met. Eng.) 1955, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.M. (Met.) 1958, and Sc.D. (Met.) 1960, and at the Technical Institute, Aachen, as a Fulbright Fellow, 1956–57. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as Assistant Professor in February 1960, and was appointed Associate Professor in June 1963 and full Professor in June 1968. In May 1973, he was named Chairman of the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. In June 1978 and 1983, he was reappointed Department Chairman and served until June 1984. In 1994, he was Visiting Professor at Tohoku University (Sendai, Japan).

He is a member of AIME and ASM, and has served on numerous divisional and award committees within these societies. He has served on the Technical Divisions Board (1982–84), as Secretary of the ASM Academy for Metals and Materials Committee, and in 1976 was named a Fellow of the Society. In 1964, he co-edited the ASM seminar volume on Computers in Metallurgy. He has served as Chairman of the Process Technology Division and as a Director of the ISS-AIME. In 1980, he was named a Distinguished Life Member of the ISS. In 1976, he received the Science Award Gold Medal of the Extractive Metallurgy Division of TMS-AIME. In 1983, he was named a Fellow of TMS. He was chairman of the former AIME-ISS Division Publications Committee. He served as chairman of the Editorial Board for the AIME Monograph Series on Oxygen Steelmaking. In 1980, he presented the Howe Memorial Lecture on “Steelmaking—The Jet Age.”

In 1991–92, he was the Krumb Lecturer of the Metallurgical Society. In 1980, he was named a Case Institute Centennial Scholar and the Van Horn Distinguished Lecturer at Case Western Reserve University. He has lectured widely internationally, and at technical conferences, universities, corporations, and technical society chapters, including presenting a number of keynote, invited, and honorary lectures.

He was National President of Alpha Sigma Mu and a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and the New York Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the American Society for Engineering Education and the American Foundry Society. He has held memberships in the Iron and Steel Institute of London, the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan, and the Verein Deutscher Eisenhuttenleute. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Michigan. Dr. Pehlke has served as Foundry Educational Foundation Professor at The University of Michigan for 17 years.

Professor Pehlke has authored or co-authored over 300 publications, including editing, authoring, or co-authoring 11 books. His text Unit Processes of Extractive Metallurgy has been widely used throughout the world. He co-authored Continuous Casting—Design and Operations, which is Volume 4 of the ISS-AIME series. He has won seven American Foundry Society Best Paper awards.

In 1963, Dr. Pehlke published an ASM pioneering paper first describing computer modeling of continuous casting of steel. In 1964, he continued this work in conjunction with McLouth Steel Corporation, which had just installed the first slab casting machine for steel in the United States. In 1968, he, with the support of the Heat Transfer Committee of the American Foundry Society, initiated the first university research program in North America on computer modeling of the solidification of shaped castings.

His early professional employment included three summers each with General Motors Research Laboratories and the Ford Scientific Laboratory. He has consulted extensively on a wide range of metallurgical subjects, principally with ferrous and nonferrous metal producers and their suppliers.

His research has covered a broad range of metallurgical topics with an emphasis on high-temperature physical chemistry of metallurgical systems, modeling of solidification of metals, and computer applications in metallurgy.

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Pehlke, R.D. Computer simulation of solidification processes—The evolution of a technology. Metall Mater Trans A 33, 2251–2273 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-002-0349-1

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