Modification of the microstructure by rotating magnetic field during the solidification of Al-7 wt.% Si alloy under microgravity

Abstract Directional solidifications of Al-7 wt.% Si alloy were carried out under microgravity on board the International Space Station to investigate the impact of a rotating magnetic field (RMF) on the solidified microstructure. It has been found that the RMF significantly influences the solidified microstructure in the conditions corresponding to the lowest growth rate, whereas it has negligible influence on the microstructure under the highest growth rate, indicating that the RMF intensity and the forced liquid flow are too weak, compared to the solidification front velocity, to impact the microstructure. For the lowest growth rate applied, the RMF application results in a more uniform eutectic phase distribution and a smaller dendrite arm spacing. This is ascribed to the RMF induced forced liquid flow that makes more uniform Si concentration in the bulk liquid above the solid-liquid interface. Additionally, the RMF application possibly modifies the columnar dendritic network by changing dendrite growth directions. This observation can be attributed to the combined effect of the RMF induced forced liquid flow and of the thermoelectric magnetic force on the dendrites resulting from the application of the RMF as well.