Actual Movies of Solidification in Progress

Some discussion of the solidification processes illustrated in these movies can be found in Metals and Alloys lectures.

The following observations of solidification in progress have been provided by courtesy of H. Esaka, J. Stramke and W. Kurz of the Department of Materials, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland. They represent "Metal-like columnar dendritic growth in succinonitrile-aceton alloys". The succinonitrile-aceton is an organic system which is transluscent to light, making the solidification process visible in an optical microscope. For the theory of dendritic growth see: W. Kurz, D.J. Fisher "Fundamentals of Solidification", Trans Tech Publ. Ltd, Switzerland, 4th ed. 1998

Dendritic solidification in Fe-0.11 wt% C velocity 10 mm/s, temperature gradient 100 K/mm. Have a careful look at the development of the secondary dendrite arms. The initial spacing between the secondary dendrite arms is much finer than in the final microstructure. This is because of coarsening - some of the finer arms dissolve as the coarser ones grow. The later stages also show the coalescence of the dedrite arms (both primary and secondary).

The movies are in MPG format.

Dendritic solidification.

A more cellular solidification front.

Acknowledgment

The movies presented here have been provided for teaching purposes via the good offices of Professor Wilfried Kurz of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Switzerland.


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