The Influence of Gravity on Eutectic PbSn Alloy Grown by the Vertical Bridgman Method

Composition profiles of eutectic alloy Pb25.9Sn74.1 atomic % grown by the normal and inverted Bridgman methods are presented and the study of the solute alloy redistribution is made. The inverted vertical Bridgman method, where the solidification occurs from the top to the bottom of the melt under a destabilizing thermal gradient, allows the growth of crystals with buoyancy-driven convection different from that with the usual vertical Bridgman configuration. The scope of this work is to study the influence of the gravity acceleration in the convection process.