Solidification of tetragonal Ni2B from the undercooled melt

The dendrite growth velocity during non-equilibrium solidification of tetragonal Ni2B crystals is measured as a function of undercooling on electrostatically levitated droplets. Highspeed video imaging is applied to measure in situ the propagation of the solid-liquid interface apparent on the sample surface. To analyze the raw data, a three-dimensional model is developed to determine the growth velocity within the volume of the melt. Microstructure analysis is performed to resolve the pattern formation mechanism of tetragonal Ni2B crystals which differs significantly from the cubic case. The dendrite tips are found to grow perpendicular to the crystallographic {111} planes. As a consequence, the propagation of the solidification front on a macroscopic scale is determined by the lattice parameters of the tetragonal crystal structure. The dendrite growth velocities along the {111} normal directions are analyzed on a mesoscopic scale within a sharp-interface model. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2012