NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF HEAT FLOW AND INTERFACES IN THE VERTICAL ZONE-MELTING CRYSTAL GROWTH

Abstract

Computer simulation is conducted to study vertical zone-melting crystal growth. Hie model, which is governed by momentum and heat transfer in the system, is solved by a finite volume/ Newton method with an implementation of the pseudo-arclength continuation. Single crystal growth of NaNO₃ in a computer-controlled transparent multizone furnace is simulated as examples. The calculated results show that natural convection induced by the buoyancy force affects melt-solid interfaces significantly, which is consistent with the observation during crystal growth experiments. Along the solution branch, multiple steady states are observed, and they are accompanied by the inversion of the upper melt-feed interface.

Notes

Address correspondence to Dr. C. W. Lan, Department of Chemical Engineering, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan 32054, Republic of China.