Study of fragment behavior during columnar-equiaxed transition of hypoeutectic alloy with synchrotron radiation

In the present work, solidification of hypoeutectic, eutectic and hypereutectic Al-Cu alloys was illustrated by synchrotron X ray imaging, and the CET of hypoeutectic alloy was picked out to thorough investigated. The mechanism of hypoeutectic dendrites fragment behaviors among the nucleation area was studied by in-situ imaging and first- principles computation. The results show that the density difference between the fragments and the enriched melt leads to the movement of the fragments. The ejected fragments contributed to the columnar-eutectic transition and expanded the breadth of mush zone in front of the solid/liquid interface. © 2012 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.