Open-source software

What it does

The microstructural modelling of materials (µMatIC) computer program has been developed at Imperial College London to simulate the solidification process of alloys.

The µMatIC code includes an extension of the cellular automata technique to include solute diffusion through combination with a finite difference solver, larger-scale simulation results by coupling to external simulation programs, and soon will include microscale fluid flow and heat transfer in the public version.

This 3-dimensional µMatIC code is able to predict microstructural features of the solidification including dendritic morphology, spacing, grain structure, concentration profile, pores, casting defects, etc.

How to get it

The µMatIC computer program is an open source project written in the C programming language. The latest version of the source code is available under a license similar to that used by the Berkeley Software Distribution (the "modified BSD license"). A manual and a selection of tutorials are also available for download, to help you get started.

That means you can use the software as you wish, but we do request you cite our papers where appropriate. I.e. for academic purposes, the published articles describing the work should be cited as recommended in the list of suitable references for each sub-component of the software.

At present there is no official support for this open source release. Suggestions for collaboration, sponsoring of students or visitors to improve or adapt the program, or other ideas are always welcome.