Alloy solidification in systems containing a liquid miscibility gap

Abstract

Directional solidification methods have been used to examine the growth of fibrous, or tubular, composite samples in alloys close to the monotectic reaction: Liquid 1 Solid + Liquid 2. The binary systems Al-In, Cu-Pb and Cd-Ga have been examined and some use made of a transparent analogue, succinnonitrile-water. The solidification behavior appears to relate to the height of the miscibility gap in such systems and it is demonstrated how ternary additions which change this height (Sn to Al-In, Al to Cu-Pb) modify the microstructures dramatically. These structural changes are discussed with reference to the relative surface energies between two immiscible liquids and a third (solid) phase. The phase spacings and transitions in microstructure are discussed in terms of diffusion processes at the monotectic front.