Dendrite coarsening during solidification of hypo- and hyper-eutectic Al-Cu alloys

Abstract

Dendrite coarsening during cooling at a constant rate was compared at various stages of solidification with that during isothermal holding for Al-Cu alloys of hypo- and hypereutectic compositions. For each specimen, the undercooling for the initial dendrite formation and the time elapsed after it were measured directly. The dendrite arm spacing was shown to be determined solely by the latter, and the dendrite structure was therefore coarsening-controlled from the early stage of solidification. The rate of coarsening in terms of the dendrite arm spacing during solidification at a constant cooling rate was same as that during isothermal holding in all the alloys tested. Numerical values of the fractional rate of solidification were evaluated for the hypo-eutectic compositions and the results show that the rate of dendrite coarsening does not depend on the fractional rate of solidification. Aluminium dendrites show structural coarsening with progressive solidification in the same way as during isothermal holding. CuAl₂ dendrites show curved boundaries after isothermal holding whereas those cooled at a constant rate are faceted.