Formation of twinned dendrites during unidirectional solidification of Al-32%Zn alloy
(State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China)
Abstract: The present study focused on the formation and crystallographic orientation of twinned dendrites coexisting with equiaxed grains in unidirectional solidification of Al-32%Zn (mass fraction) alloy. The morphology was investigated by optical metallograph and electron back-scattered diffraction technique. Results showed that the macrostructure of the alloy exhibited a typical feathery and fan-like structure while the microstructures were elongated lamellas, which were separated by coherent and incoherent twin boundaries. Both the primary trunk and all lateral arms of twinned dendrites grew along á110？ directions, unlike regular á100？ α(Al) dendrites. The facet growth of crystals at solid/liquid interface was responsible for the origin of twinned dendrites during the weak local convection, and high thermal gradient and medium solidification velocity had significant contribution to the formation of twinned dendrites. The formation mechanism of twinned dendrites which consisted of three multiplication ways of new twin boundaries formation and one way of dendrite evolution in twin plane was shown schematically.
Key words: unidirectional solidification; twinned dendrite; growth direction; aluminum alloy