Cc. Battaile et al., THE EFFECT OF ENHANCED GRAVITY LEVELS ON MICROSTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN PB-50 WT PCT SN ALLOYS DURING CONTROLLED DIRECTIONAL SOLIDIFICATION, Metallurgical and materials transactions. A, Physical metallurgy andmaterials science, 25(4), 1994, pp. 865-870
The Pb-50 wt pct Sn alloys were directionally solidified at 21.1 mum s
-1 through a temperature gradient of approximately 3.5 K mm-1. With th
e aid of a centrifuge, the solidifying dendritic interfaces were subje
cted to constant gravity levels, opposite to the growth direction, up
to 15.3 times that of Earth's. Microstructural examination revealed no
significant change in the secondary dendrite arm spacing, the interde
ndritic eutectic spacing, or the primary dendrite trunk diameter as a
function of increasing gravity level; the primary dendrite arm spacing
, however, decreased significantly. The primary spacing decrease is ar
gued to result from suppressing convection in the bulk liquid or by mo
dification of the rejected solute layer as a result of enhanced buoyan
cy.