PHASE SELECTION DURING SOLIDIFICATION OF PERITECTIC ALLOYS

Formation of stable and metastable phases under directional solidifica tion conditions in materials showing peritectic phase equilibria is di scussed. Based on interface response functions for single phase growth morphologies (dendrites and plane front) and on competitive growth ar guments, a kinetic stabilisation of metastable peritectic phases with respect to stable ones is predicted for various growth conditions. Thi s method is applied to two industrially important classes of materials such as steels and Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets, the properties of which depend closely on the phases formed. Copyright (C) 1996 Acta Metallur gica Inc.