Method for solidifying while rubbing the solid-liquid interface

Abstract

Abstract The microstructure and the impurity distribution in a solid which has been directionally solidified from a melt or solution can be strongly influenced by rubbing the solid-liquid interface during solidification. If the solid has two or more phases, a major effect will be the production of a fine-grain microstructure. The grains in addition to being small will be roughly equiaxial and not possess the usual columnar, dendritic and substructures. If the solid is single phase, the rubbing should break up the diffusion layer in the liquid, which is, typically, enriched in one or more of the constituents, and the equilibrium segregation coefficient between the solid and the liquid should be realized in normal freezing. Fine-grained microstructures have recently become of interest in the field of superplasticity and an important application of normal freezing of a single-phase material is in the desalination of water.

Inventors

• 👤 William G Pfann

Bibliographic Details