Electromagnetic levitation technique was used to undercool bulk samples of Co-20% Cu and Co-60% Cu alloys and high undercoolings up to 303 and 110 K were achieved,respectively.The dendritic growth velocities were measured as a function of undercooling.The dendrite growth velocity of the Co-20% Cu alloy was much higher than that of the Co-60% Cu alloy.The experimental data were analyzed on the basis of the LKT/BCT dendritic growth model by taking into account non-equilibrium interface kinetics.It has been revealed that a transition from solute diffusion controlled dendritic growth to thermal diffusion controlled dendritic growth occurs at an undercooling of about 66 K for the Co-20% Cu alloy,whereas the dendrite growth in Co-60% Cu alloy proceeds in a solute diffusion controlled mode within a large solidification temperature range,and the solutal undercooling plays a dominant role.It is thus deduced that certain distinct solidification temperature ranges may be responsible for the different solidification modes for the two alloys.
Metastable liquid phase separation and rapid solidification in a metastable miscibility gap were investigated on the Cu60Co30Cr10 alloy by using the electromagnetic levitation and splat-quenching.It is found that the alloy generally has a microstructure consisting of a（Co,Cr）-rich phase embedded in a Cu-rich matrix,and the morphology and size of the（Co,Cr）-rich phase vary drastically with cooling rate.During the electromagnetic levitation solidification processing the cooling rate is lower,resulting in an obvious coalescence tendency of the（Co,Cr）-rich spheroids.The（Co,Cr）-rich phase shows dendrites and coarse spheroids at lower cooling rates.In the splat quenched samples the（Co,Cr）-rich phase spheres were refined significantly and no dendrites were observed.This is probably due to the higher cooling rate,undercooling and interface tension.
（Fe50Co25B15Si10）80Cu20 ribbons are prepared by using the single-roller melt-spinning method. A dual-layer structure consisting of a （Fe, Co）-rich amorphous phase and a Cu-rich crystalline phase forms due to metastable liquid phase separation before solidification. The magnetic hysteresis loops of the as-quenched and annealed samples are measured at room temperature. It is indicated that the coercivity of the ribbon is almost zero in the as-quenched state. The crystallization leads to the increase of coercivity and decrease of saturation magnetization.
Solidification of Fe-7.5%Mo-16.5%Si ternary quasiperitectic alloy is investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and drop tube containerless processing techniques.The primary phase is identified as R (Fe5Mo3Si2) and the quasiperitectic phases are τ1 (Fe5MoSi4) and Fe3Si.With the decrease of droplet diameter, the cooling rate and undercooling of the droplets in-crease rapidly.The experiment result indicates that the solidification microstructure is composed of remnant primary phase, qua-siperitectic phases and ternary eutectic when the droplet diameter exceeds 400 μm, whereas the ternary eutectic is suppressed when the droplet is smaller than 400 μm in diameter.
