Peritectic solidification under high undercooling conditions

The solidification characteristics of highly undercooled Cu-7.77% Co peritectic alloy has been examined by glass fluxing technique. The obtained undercoolings vary from 93 to 203 K(0.14 T_L). It is found that the a(Co) phase always nucleates and grows preferentially, which is followed by peritectic transformation. This means that the peritectic phase cannot form directly, even though the alloy melt is undercooled to a temperature far below its peritectic point. The maximum recalescence temperature measured experimentally decreases as undercooling increases, which is lower than the thermodynamic calculation result owing to the actual non-adiabatic nature of recalescence process. The dendritic fragmentation of primary α(Co) phase induced by high undercooling is found to enhance the completion of peritectic transformation. In addition, the LKT/BCT dendrite growth model is modified in order to make it applicable to those binary alloy systems with seriously curved liquidus and solidus lines. The dendrite

Rapid eutectic growth during free fall

Rapid eutectic growth of Sb-24%Cu alloy is realized in the drop tube during the free fall under the con-tainerless condition. Based on the analysis of crystal nuclea-tion and eutectic growth in the free fall condition, it is indicated that, with the increase of undercooling, microstruc-tural transition of Sb-24%Cu eutectic alloy proceeds from lamellar to anomalous eutectic structure. Undercoolings of 0 -154 K have been obtained in experiment. The maximum undercooling exceeds to 0.19TE. Calculated results exhibit that Cu2Sb compound is the primary nucleation phase, and that the primary Sb dendrite will grow more rapidly than the eutectic structure when undercooling is larger than 40 K. The eutectic coupled zone around Sb-24%Cu eutectic alloy leads strongly to the Cu-rich side and covers a composition range from 23.0% to 32.7%Sb.

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 TL) 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 △T0=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.

Density and structure of undercooled liquid titanium

For liquid Ti, it is difficult to achieve high undercooling because of its chemical reactivity; as a result, there is little information available on its properties and structure in the undercooled state. In this study, we investigate the density and structure, using molecular dynamics method, for the undercooling and superheating ranges 0-743 K and 0-457 K. The density increases quadratically for undercooling. At the melting temperature, the density is 4.14 g/cm3, and first and second temperature coefficients are obtained. The pair correlation functions and coordination numbers indicate that the short range degree of order becomes increasingly significant with increasing undercooling.

Dual solidification mechanisms of liquid ternary Fe-Cu-Sn alloy

Liquid ternary Fe47.5Cu47.5Sn5 alloy displayed dual solidification mechanisms when it was undercooled by up to 329 K （0.19TL）. Below a critical undercooling of about 196 K, it solidified just like a normal peritectic alloy, even though metastable phase separation occurred to a microscopic extent. Once bulk undercooling exceeds 196 K, macroscopic segregation played a domi- nant role in solidification. In both cases, the solidification process was always characterized by two successive peritectic trans- formations： firstly primary yFe dendrites reacted with liquid phase to form （Cu） phase, and subsequently the （Cu） phase reacted with residual liquid phase to yield β-Cu5.6Sn intermetallic compound. The primary yFe dendrites achieved a maximum growth velocity of 400 mm/s and experienced a growth kinetics transition as a result of macrosegregation. Since the （Cu） phase was both the product phase of the first peritectic transformation and also the reactant phase for the second peritectic transformation, it appeared as two layers in solidification microstructures due to the microsegregation of Sn solute. The boundary continuity between the macroscopically separated Fe-rich and Cu-ricb zones was enhanced with the increase of undercooling.

Damping performance and martensitic transformation of rapidly solidified Fe-17%Mn alloy

The rapid solidification of Fe-17%Mn alloy was performed to investigate the influence of cooling rate on its damping performance and martensitic transformation mechanism. A proper heat treatment was also carried out to clarify its coupled effects with rapid solidification. The stacking fault probability and martensitic transformation temperature were determined to demonstrate their relationship with the cooling rate and the heat treatment process. With the increase of cooling rate, the volume fraction of ε-martensite increased and the stacking fault probability of ε-martensite was enhanced. The formation ofε-martensite phase was remarkable for the increase of damping capacity and microhardness. It was found that rapid solidification was beneficial for the formation of ε-martensite and the improvement of damping capacity. This effect can be facilitated by the incorporation of the heat treatment process.