About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2026 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Materials Research in Reduced Gravity
|
| Presentation Title |
Nucleation Studies in Eutectic Alloy Liquids – A Combined Approach of Ground-based and Microgravity Supercooling Experiments with Synchrotron Characterization Analysis |
| Author(s) |
Yelin Sheng, Anup Gangopadhyay, Ken Kelton |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Yelin Sheng |
| Abstract Scope |
Reduced gravity provides a unique environment for investigating the effects of stirring for nucleation processes in metallic liquids. Here, we study the nucleation behavior of the eutectic alloy Zr80Pt20 using containerless processing via electrostatic levitation (ESL) on Earth and electromagnetic levitation (EML) aboard the International Space Station. Results from over a hundred nucleation cycles indicate that stirring slows the nucleation kinetics. A few plausible explanations are suggested for this decrease. Ground-based synchrotron X-ray diffraction studies indicate that the nucleation initiates with the formation of an icosahedral phase, which subsequently transforms to the equilibrium eutectic mixture. Additional synchrotron data for different eutectic liquids (e.g., Zr77Pd23, Zr82Ir18, Cu46Zr54, etc.) shows diverse nucleation behavior, including the simultaneous formation of the eutectic phases or sequential nucleation starting with a single primary phase. Together, these results provide new insight into the crystallization behavior of undercooled eutectic alloys. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Phase Transformations, Characterization, Solidification |