Competitions incorporated in rapid solidification of the bulk undercooled eutectic Ni_78.6Si_21.4 alloy

Adopting glass fluxing and cyclic superheating, high undercooling up to ∼550 K was achieved in bulk eutectic Ni_78.6Si_21.4 alloy melt. With increasing undercooling, the as-solidified microstructure shows an interesting evolution, i.e., regular lamellar eutectic, coarse directional dendrite, quasi-spherical dendritic colony, fine directional dendrite, fine quasi-spherical dendritic colony, and superfine anomalous eutectic. In combination with different theories for nucleation and growth, the microstructure evolution was analyzed and described using competitions incorporated in rapid solidification of the bulk undercooled eutectic Ni_78.6Si_21.4 alloy. For undercooling below and above 180 K, Ni₃Si, and α-Ni are primarily solidified, respectively. This phase selection can be ascribed to competitive nucleation. As undercooling increases, a transition of the prevalent nucleation mode from site saturation to continuous nucleation was interpreted in terms of competition of nucleation mode. Accordingly, the superfine anomalous eutectic is obtained, due to the substantially increased continuous nucleation rate, i.e., grain refinement occurring at high undercooling (e.g., ∼550 K).