All metallic materials are prepared from the liquid state as their parent phase. Solidification is therefore one of the most important phase transformation in daily human life. Solidification is the transition from liquid to solid state of matter. The conditions under which material is transformed determines the physical and chemical properties of the as-solidified body. The processes involved, like nucleation and crystal growth, are governed by heat and mass transport. Convection and undercooling provide additional processing parameters to tune the solidification process and to control solid material performance from the very beginning of the production chain. To develop a predictive capability for efficient materials production the processes involved in solidification have to be understood in detail. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the solidification of metallic melts processed and undercooled in a containerless manner by drop tube, electromagnetic and electrostatic levitation, and experiments in reduced gravity. The experiments are accompanied by model calculations on the influence of thermodynamic and hydrodynamic conditions that control selection of nucleation mechanisms and modify crystal growth development throughout the solidification process.

"SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF '!HE UNDEROLED MELT" This title was chosen as the topical headline of the Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) from March 17 to 22 1985, held at the Castle of Theuern. The usual term "Rapid Solidification" is an overlapping description. Due to the fact that nucleation is so eminently important for the undercooling of a melt and this, in turn, is an important characteristic of rapid solidifi cation, undercooling plays an essential role in "rapid solidification." The undercooled melt has caused an "accelerated evolution" (if not a revolution) in materials science during the last decade. Several rather exciting concepts with interesting potential for novel applications are being pursued presently in various laboratories and companies. They concern not only new processes and ha~ware developments, but also present chal lenging perspectives for ventures, including the founding of new companies; or they promise growth possibilities with established larger and smaller industrial establishments.

Rapid solidification and microstructure evolution of deeply undercooled bulk concentrated Ni-20%at.Cu and Co-20%at.Pd alloys are strictly and systematically evaluated. First, thermodynamics of the undercooled melt is discussed. Consideration is provided for not only the systematic microstructure evolution within a broad undercooling range, but also the dendrite growth mechanism and the rapid solidification characteristics. The dendrite growth in the bulk undercooled melts was captured by a high speed camera. The first kind of grain refinement occurring in the low undercooling regimes was explained by a current grain refinement model. Besides for the dendrite melting mechanism, the stress originating from the solidification contraction and thermal strain in the first mushy zone during rapid solidification could be a main mechanism causing the second kind of grain refinement above the critical undercooling. This internal-stress led to the distortion and breakup of the primary dendrites and was semi-quantitatively described by a corrected stress accumulation model. It was found that the stress induced recrystallization could make the primary microstructures refine substantially after recalescence.

This text comprises a collection of papers from the Merton C. Flemings Symposium held on the MIT campus in June, 2000. The papers cover such topics as dendritic solidification dynamics, control of casting quality, interdendritic fluid flow, semi-solid processing, and engineering education.

The microstructure selection at both high and low growth rates is studied. For the high rate extreme, melt spinning of a Fe-Si-B alloy is employed. The microstructural variations with changing wheel speed and factors affecting these variations are examined through various characterization techniques. Particular attention was given for the influence of melt pool behavior on the competition between nucleation of crystalline solidification products and glass formation. It is found that there exists a window of wheel speeds which give rise to a stable melt-pool and production of amorphous ribbons. The surface-controlled melt-pool oscillation is found as the dominant factor governing the onset of unsteady thermal conditions accompanied by varying amounts of crystalline nucleation observed near the lower wheel speed limit. For the upper wheel speed limit, a criterion based on mass-balance and momentum transfer is developed for predicting the window of wheel speeds for obtaining uniform and fully amorphous ribbons. For the low rate extreme, solidification and morphological selection of the faceted silicon phase is investigated in a near eutectic Al-Si system by utilizing a Bridgman type directional solidification unit. Particularly, the role of certain defect mechanisms, namely twinning, in the selection of microstructure and growth crystallography is investigated. At the imposed growth rates of 0.5 and 1 micron/s and temperature gradient of 7.5 K/mm, a unique silicon morphology consisting of 8-pointed stars is observed to grow with 001 texture within continuous domains across the sample. The growth crystallography of this unique silicon structure is characterized and it is found that substantial amount of [210] type twinning exists within the central core of this star-shaped morphology. It is found that the twinning phenomenon at the core is an essential feature for branching, morphological selection, and adjustment of spacing between the star-like silicon features. These mechanisms and the associated growth characteristics are examined in detail.