Crystallographic growth pattern of zinc-rich plate-like cells under a high magnetic field

Abstract The high magnetic field induced regularly aligned zinc-rich plate-like cells during solidification of a Zn-27.6 wt%Sn alloy were investigated, along with the detailed analysis of crystallographic growth pattern. The results show that such plate-like cells were formed three-dimensionally and grew in the following pattern: a) a crystal grew out of the {0001} basal plane to form the horizontally extended primary trunks; b) the primary trunks branched vertically and then produced the 10 1 ¯ 0 > primary trunks; c) the 10 1 ¯ 0 > primary trunks branched again in the {0001} basal plane and created the high-order 10 1 ¯ 0 > arms, some of which then grew out of the {0001} basal plane for the next growth cycle. In such a repeated manner, a plate-like cell was finally formed.