Double-diffusive convective flow and interface morphology during transient Ga–5% In alloy melting

• Published in: Journal of crystal growth 2000-07, Vol.217 (1), p.170-182
• Main Authors: Yin, Hongbin, Koster, Jean N
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Convective and constrained heat transfer; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Double-diffusive convection; Equations of state, phase equilibria, and phase transitions; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Heat transfer; Instability; Materials science; Melting; Methods of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth; Natural convection; Physics; Radioscopy; Solid-fluid interfaces; Solid-liquid transitions; Solidification; Specific phase transitions; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Theory and models of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth, crystal morphology and orientation
• ISSN: 0022-0248; 1873-5002
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-0248(00)00411-5

A directional melting experiment of a rectangular sheet of Ga–5 wt% In in a horizontal temperature gradient is described. Real-time radioscopy is used to visualize in situ the solid structure, the interface morphologies, and the flow patterns. Information on unstable double-diffusive convection layers, their time-dependent characteristics of formation, growth, and merging, are obtained. Co-existence of convection and conduction layers in the melt, the interaction between double-diffusive convection layers, the development of solute stratification in the melt, and the dynamic solid/liquid interface morphologies are discussed.