Heat transfer and solidification processes of alloy melt with undercooling: I. Experimental results

The solidification process of Pb–Sn and Bi–Sn alloy melts is discussed to obtain a basic understanding of the essential phenomena of solidification with undercooling. First, from macroscopic observations, it is shown that the solidification process consists of the following three stages: (1) free growth with recalescence dissipation of thermal undercooling, (2) expansion of crystals with the relaxation of constitutional undercooling or with the recovering process of interrupted quasi-steady heat conduction, and (3) equilibrium solidification. The specific features of free growth under non-uniform undercooling are also shown by comparison with the Lipton, Glicksman, and Kurz model. Next, from microscopic observations, the distribution of the solute concentration and the change of crystal morphology in the solidified materials were investigated quantitatively using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy. Finally, the solidification path during the above three fundamental processes is dynamically represented on phase diagrams.