Rapid solidification of undercooled Al-Cu-Si eutectic alloys

Under the conventional solidification condition, a liquid aluminium alloy can be hardly undercooled because of oxidation. In this work, rapid solidification of an undercooled liquid Al_80.4Cu_13.6Si₆ ternary eutectic alloy was realized by the glass fluxing method combined with recycled superheating. The relationship between superheating and undercooling was investigated at a certain cooling rate of the alloy melt. The maximum undercooling is 147 K (0.18T _E). The undercooled ternary eutectic is composed of α(Al) solid solution, (Si) semiconductor and θ(CuAl₂) intermetallic compound. In the (Al+Si+θ) ternary eutectic, (Si) faceted phase grows independently, while (Al) and θ non-faceted phases grow cooperatively in the lamellar mode. When undercooling is small, only (Al) solid solution forms as the leading phase. Once undercooling exceeds 73 K, (Si) phase nucleates firstly and grows as the primary phase. The alloy microstructure consists of primary (Al) dendrite, (Al+θ) pseudobinary eutectic and (Al+Si+θ) ternary eutectic at small undercooling, while at large undercooling primary (Si) block, (Al+θ) pseudobinary eutectic and (Al+Si+θ) ternary eutectic coexist. As undercooling increases, the volume fraction of primary (Al) dendrite decreases and that of primary (Si) block increases. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50121101, 50395105) and the Doctorate Foundation of Northwestern Polytechnical University (Grant No. CX200419)     

Primary dendrite growth of Ni<Subscript>3</Subscript>Sn intermetallic compound during rapid solidification of undercooled Ni-Sn-Ge alloy

Liquid Ni-31.7%Sn-2.5%Ge alloy was highly undercooled by up to 238 K(0.17TL) with glass fluxing and drop tube techniques.The dendritic growth velocity of primary Ni3Sn compound shows a power-law relation to undercooling and achieves a maximum velocity of 380 mm/s.The addition of Ge reduces its growth velocity as compared with the binary Ni75Sn25 alloy.A structural transition from coarse dendrites into equiaxed grains occurs once undercooling exceeds a critical value of about 125 K,which is accompanied by both grain refinement and solute trapping.The Ni3Sn intermetallic compound behaves like a normal solid solution phase showing nonfaceted growth during rapid solidification.     

Rapid solidification of acoustically levitated Al-Cu-Si eutectic alloy under laser irradiation

Al-27%Cu-5.3%Si ternary eutectic alloy was melted using a YAG laser and then solidified while being acoustically levitated. A maximum undercooling to 195 K (0.24 TL) was achieved with a cooling rate of 76 K/s. The solidification microstructure was composed of (Al+θ+Si) ternary eutectics and (Al+θ) pseudobinary eutectics. During acoustic levitation, the (Al+θ+Si) ternary eutectics are refined and the (Al+θ) pseudobinary eutectics have morphological diversity. On the surface of the alloys, surface oscillations and acoustic streaming promote the nucleation of the three eutectic phases and expedite the cooling process. This results in the refinement of the ternary eutectic microstructure. During experiments, the reflector decreases with increasing alloy temperature, and the levitation distance always exceeds the resonant distance. Because of the acoustic radiation pressure, the melted alloy was flattened, and deformation increases with increasing sound pressure. The maximum aspect ratio achieved was 6.64, corresponding to a sound pressure of 1.8×104 Pa.     

High undercooling and rapid dendritic growth of Cu-Sb alloy in drop tube

Droplets of Cu-20%Sb hypoeutectic alloy has been rapidly solidified in drop tube within the containerless condition. With the decrease of droplet diameter, undercooling increases and the microstructures of primary copper dendrite refines. Undercooling up to 207 K (0.17 T _L) is obtained in experiment. Theoretic analysis indicated that because of the broad temperature range of solidification, the rapid growth of primary copper dendrite is controlled by the solutal diffusion. Judging from the calculation of T₀ curve in the phase diagram, it is shown that the critical undercooling of segregationless solidification is δT ₀ = 474 K. At the maximum undercooling of 207 K, the growth velocity of primary copper phase exceeds to 37 mm/s, and the distinct solute trapping occurs.     

Surface tension and specific heat of liquid Ni<Subscript>70.2</Subscript>Si<Subscript>29.8</Subscript> alloy

The thermophysical properties of liquid alloys in me-tastable state are of importance for liquid-solid phase transformation under nonequilibrium conditions[1―10]. Sur-face tension and specific heat, two of the most important thermophysical properties, have significant influences on the process of crystal nucleation and growth. Furthermore, it is necessary to obtain these data so as to perform quan-titative research on rapid solidification[3―10]. The tradi-tional measurement methods, however,…     

Rapid dendritic growth of Al-Ge hypoeutectic alloy in a drop tube

Abstract Dendritic growth in Al-45% Ge hypoeutectic alloy has been investigated during free fall in a 3 m drop tube. Calculationsindicate that the undercooling obtained for the falling Al-45% Ge droplets ranges from 13 K to 201 K. The maximum undercooling attains0. 27 T_L. With the increase of undercooling, the primary (Al) phase undergoes a "columnar dendrite to equiaxed dendrite" structural tran-sition. According to the current rapid dendritic growth theory, the growth of primary (Al) phase is always controlled by solute diffusion.     

Formation of ζ phase in Cu-Ge peritectic alloys

Rapid growth behavior of ζ phase has been investigated in the undercooling experiments of Cu-14%Ge, Cu-15%Ge, Cu-18.5%Ge and Cu-22%Ge alloys. Alloys of the four compositions obtain the maximum undercoolings of 202 K（0.17TL）, 245 K（0.20TL）, 223 K（0.20TL） and 176 K（0.17TL）, respectively. As the content of Ge increases, the microstructural transition of ＂a（Cu） dendrite ＋ ζ＂ peritectic phase → ζ＂ peritectic phase →, ζ dendrite ＋ （ε＋ζ） eutectic＂ takes place in the alloy at small undercooling, while the microstructural transition of ＂fragmented α （Cu）dendrite ＋ ζ peritectic phase →, ζ peritectic phase →ζ dendrite ＋ ε phase＂ happens in the alloy at large undercooling. EDS analysis of the Ge content in peritectic phase indicates that undercooling enlarges the solid solubility of ζ rdendrite, which leads to a decrease in the Ge content in ζ phase as undercooling increases. In the Cu-18.5%Ge alloy composed of ζ peritectic phase, the Ge content in ζ phase increases when undercooling increases, which is due to the restraint of the Ge enrichment on the grain boundaries by high undercooling effect.