Determination of Crystallographic Orientation near a Chill Zone Using Ghost Lines

Abstract

Many crystals nucleate on the mold surface when the molten alloy is poured in a mold cavity. Because the crystallographic orientations of these crystals are random, the solidified structure near the mold surface is very complex. The ghost lines, which are sometimes thick and the angle between them is not 90 degrees, are often observed in this region. However, if the crystallographic structure of this alloy is cubic, such as bcc or fcc, the ghost lines are very regular. In order to understand the geometry of ghost lines, Al-20 mass%Cu alloys were unidirectionally solidified with constant growth velocity. The solidified structures on the obliquely crossed section were observed. The ghost lines were quite regular and parallel to each other in a solidification grain. The angles and the ratio of the width of ghost lines were measured and crystallographic orientations were estimated using these parameters, based on the solid analytical geometry. EBSD analysis were also performed on the area, where the ghost lines were characterized, and the precise crystallographic orientations were decided. The comparison between both analytical values indicated that the differences between them are within 10 degrees and it can be safely concluded that the estimation for crystallographic orientation using ghost lines agreed well with the EBSD analysis.