During the vacuum arc remelting (VAR) process, external convective cooling conditions exert a significant influence on both the heat transfer behavior and solidification microstructure of ingots. In this research, Φ 480 mm IN718 alloy VAR ingots were investigated. A heat transfer model for the VAR mold was established based on the equivalent thermal resistance method to analyze the effects of varying external convective cooling conditions on overall heat transfer performance. Industrial-scale VAR experiments were conducted at different cooling water flow velocities (0.48, 0.73 and 1.30 m/s) to assess how external cooling affects molten pool morphology and microstructure evolution. The results indicate that cooling water flow velocity is the primary factor affecting the heat transfer performance of the VAR mold. Increasing the flow velocity significantly enhances radial heat transfer capability while exerting a relatively limited effect on axial heat transfer. Furthermore, as the cooling water flow velocity increases, the molten pool depth decreases markedly, the pool morphology becomes shallower and more symmetric, and the ingot cooling rate is enhanced. Consequently, dendrite coarsening is effectively suppressed, resulting in a significant reduction in secondary dendrite arm spacing. Specifically, when the flow velocity increases from 0.48 to 1.30 m/s, SDAS decreases by 30.4% at the center, 31.0% at R/2, and 26.5% at the edge, and the SDAS-derived equivalent cooling rate (GR) increases from 6.53–18.25 K/min to 19.41–46.01 K/min across the three representative radial locations. A significant enhancement in the metallurgical quality of the VAR ingot is achieved.
Qi et al. (2026) studied this question.