Direct observation of the melt/substrate interface in melt spinning

The detailed investigation of solidification behavior at the interface between melt and chill substrate is an important issue for melt spinning process. The solidification behavior has been empirically deduced from the relationship between resultant microstructure and wheel speed, because the melt/substrate interface is hard to be observed directly. In the present study, we constructed quasi-melt spinning system in which the melt was ejected onto a silicon wafer rotating “transversely” by a vacuum motor in a chamber. Solidification behavior underside of the melt puddle was, for the first time, observed through the silicon wafer by a high speed IR imaging system operated at 5000 frames/s.