Pseudo-4D view of the growth and form of locked eutectic colonies

We investigate solidification of an Al-Cu alloy as a model system to understand the emergence of patterns (such as lamellar, rod and maze-like) within eutectic colonies. To uncover the morphological transitions in situ and in 3D, we introduce here a new synchrotron-based procedure termed pseudo-4D X-ray imaging. Our method simultaneously maximizes the temporal (200 ms) and spatial resolution (0.692 μm2/pixel) over that of traditional imaging approaches. The wealth of information obtained from this procedure enables us to visualize the development of a crystallographically ‘locked’ eutectic microstructure in the presence of thermosolutal convection. This data provides direct insight into the mechanism of the lamella-to-rod transition as the eutectic accommodates fluctuations in interfacial composition and growth velocity. We offer evidence to show that this transition is diffusive. It is brought about by impurity-driven forces acting on the solid-solid-liquid trijunction that must overcome the stiffness of the solid-solid interfaces. Our pseudo-4D imaging strategy holds broad appeal to the solidification science community, as it can overcome the space-time trade-off in conventional in situ X-ray microtomography.