PATTERN SELECTION IN 3 DIMENSIONAL DENDRITIC GROWTH

This work studies the selection of the shape and growth velocity of three-dimensional dendritic crystals in cubically anisotropic materials. Aside from minor additional complexities due to the lack of axisymmetry, the recently discovered mechanism of microscopic solvability can be extended to these systems and used to find a unique needle crystal solution of the equations of thermal diffusion controlled solidification. The authors compare the predictions of this approach with measured growth rates in succinonitrile. They extend the analysis to determine the ratio of the sidebranch wavelength to the tip radius.