Original Article

Control of cylindrical ingots solidification: influence of electromagnetic field topology

Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Perm, Russia

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Received: 6 February 2026
Accepted: 19 May 2026

Abstract

This work is devoted to experimental modeling of metal melt solidification processes under the influence of electromagnetic fields of various topologies. The main objective of the work is to develop a method for improving solidification parameters by changing the topology of the electromagnetic field without changing its amplitude and frequency, and therefore energy consumption. Both classical metallurgical modes of travelling and rotating magnetic fields and more complex combinations of spiral and torsional topologies are considered. Velocity fields of flows arising in the liquid phase under the influence of electromagnetic fields of given topologies are obtained using a low-melting gallium-based alloy and ultrasonic Doppler velocimetry technique. Macroscale solidification characteristics, namely, the velocity of the solidification front and the heterogeneity of its shape, are obtained for all modes. It has been shown that changing the topology of magnetic fields can increase the homogeneity of the solidification front by an order of magnitude. Specifically, the highest ratio of the time-averaged solidification front heterogeneity parameter between the modes reached 11.5 times (29.9 mm for the classical magnetic field distribution and 2.6 mm for the best magnetic field topology option we suggest). The results obtained for the gallium eutectic were confirmed for an aluminum alloy. The use of stirring in the torsional magnetic field mode during the solidification process increased the proportion of the fine-grained solid fraction by 30 percents.