Containerless Solidification of Eutectic PbSn Alloy Droplets in a Drop Tube

Abstract:

Containerless solidification of 300 to 850 µm diameter droplets of PbSn eutectic alloy was achieved by using a 3m length drop tube, which is one of the most suitable and low cost option to provide a microgravity environment on the ground. Phase morphology and composition were investigated, respectively, by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). It was found that the microstructure of the droplets depends on their sizes, where in larger diameters (>500µm) consists of both regular lamellar and irregular structures, and on other hand, for the smaller ones (<500µm) the structure is only irregular with higher lead concentration.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 727-728)
• Pages: 1633-1637
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.727-728.1633
• Online since: August 2012
• Authors: Rafael Cardoso Toledo, F.E. de Freitas, Chen Y. An, I.N. Bandeira
• Keywords: Drop Tube, Eutectic Alloy, Microgravity, Solidification

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DOI: 10.1016/s1470-1804(07)80023-x