The effect of temperature gradient and growth rate on primary dendrite spacing in steady-state unidirectional solidification: a consolidation of the available experimental results

Abstract

Available measurements of primary dendrite spacing λ 1 as a function of temperature gradient G and growth velocity V are shown to yield values of λ 1 G 1 2 V 1 4 ranging from 10 to 100μm 3 4 K 1 2 s − 1 4 with no very substantial dependencies on concentration within individual systems. Values are mostly within a factor of 2 of the representative values 74 ± 25, 50 ± 9, 28 ± 14 and 22 ± 6 μm 3 4 K 1 2 s − 1 4 for Fe, Al, Pb and organic based systems respectively, for the ranges 20 < λ 1< 1000 μm and 0.002 < GV 1 2 <5 Kμm − 1 2 s − 1 2 .