Dynamics of solidification and development of morphology of Cu-base alloys with a metastable miscibility gap in the range of the undercooled melt

Abstract

The Cu-Co system shows a metastable miscibility gap in the range of the undercooled melt. In this work the method of electromagnetic levitation (EML) and drop tube experiments have been used to examine the metastable state of Cu-Co alloys. The experiments show that both methods allow deep undercooling of the melt into the range of the miscibility gap. Due to the deep undercooling the velocity of the solidification front is very high and the actual microstructure is frozen in. The process of demixing can be observed and the binodal has been determined with high precision. The microstructure of samples processed in the electromagnetic levitation shows an influence of the electromagnetic stirring due to the induction of electric currents into the melt. Drop tube experiments, which lead to a rapid solidification under reduced gravity conditions, in contrary result in a homogeneous distribution of spherical particles of the minority phase. For this reason space experiments under microgravity conditions in the TEMPUS facility are under consideration. In these experiments the stirring effect would be greatly reduced compared to the EML.