Three-dimensional phase-field crystal modeling of fcc and bcc dendritic crystal growth

By using the phase-field crystal model (PFC), we simulate dendritic growth of face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic structures. The anisotropy of the dendritic growth velocity coefficient C and the growth dynamic scaling exponent n' are investigated as function of the PFC number density in the liquid phase (psi) over bar. We obtain the stability criterion of the operating state of the PFC dendrite tip, which is about 0.278 (fcc) and 0.104 (bcc), being larger than 0.025 predicted for the macroscopic dendritic growth. This disagreement is caused by the strongly faceted growth in the regime of large anisotropy of the PFC surface energy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.