The characteristics of single crystal bismuth wires produced by the Ohno continuous casting process

Bismuth wires approximately 2 mm in diameter were produced by the heated mo uld Ohno Continuous Casting process and their mechanical characteristics ev aluated. It was found that cast wires produced under all speed conditions f rom 30 to 170 mm min(-1) were single crystals. Cast wires with an angle bet ween the cleavage plane and wire axis of less than about 40 degrees were si gnificantly more ductile than those with an angle of over 57 degrees. The f ormer could be bent repeatedly before fracture occurred whereas the latter fractured after only a single bend. It was also found that the bismuth wire s with a cleavage angle of less than 45 degrees, exhibited tensile elongati ons up to about 130%. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.